Turning Back Time
by WildFlower084
Summary: Booth and Brennan drive to Westminster where bones have been discovered but will end up discovering so much more than just bones. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1 The discovery

Her eyes were slowly closing shut. She was tired but she needed to finish writing her chapter. Her publisher was impatiently waiting for it and she had promised to send it to her by the end of the week. We were now Friday night and she wasn't done.

She looked at the time in the right bottom side of her computer. It was 10:00 pm. She yawned. Maybe she could manage to finish it tomorrow and maybe her publisher would just not notice that she still hadn't sent her the chapter she had promised. Just maybe.

She yawned once again. No, obviously, she wouldn't be able to finish tonight. She'd just go home, get a good night's sleep and come back here tomorrow morning to finish up. The lab would be empty, nobody would notice that she'll be here. She'll be able to work quietly with no one to bother her.

She saved the work she had done tonight on her computer and turned off her computer. She was putting some files in her bag when she heard her cell phone ring. She rummaged through her bag to find it but she just couldn't get her hands on it.

"What is this? The never-ending bag?" she asked herself.

When she finally got her hands on it the phone had stopped ringing.

"Great!" she told herself.

She pressed on a button and checked her caller ID. She swifted through it. She saw Angela's number a couple of times, Booth's cell phone number and even Zack's number when he had called her a couple of weeks ago while she was out in the field with Booth. She continued going through it until she reached the last called number who had called. She frowned. She didn't recognize the number. Odd. Who would call her at 10 pm?

Just then the phone rang in her hands once again. She picked it up.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey Bones."

"Oh hey Booth. Did you just call me?"

"No why?"

"Oh because someone just called me and I don't know who it is. I checked the phone number on my caller ID but I don't recognize it."

"That's weird." Booth answered, suddenly worried but trying to hide it. "Who would call you at this time of night?"

"Beside you and Angela, I have no clue."

"Maybe it is her. You never know. She might be at some club and called you from a payphone."

"I doubt it. It seemed more like a long-distance. Anyway, why are you calling me, Booth?"

"Just felt like chatting."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm actually serious."

"OK, so let's chat."

And Brennan sat back down at her desk.

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Booth was cleaning up his desk. He couldn't believe how much it was unorganized and wondered how he had let it get it this way. He hadn't been in his office much. He had spent the last three weeks pretty much out on the field with Bones and hadn't had the time to clean up. The files were piling up on his desk. Most of them were about cases that weren't going to involve Brennan so he left them there.

The phone rang while he was tidying up his drawer.

"Agent Booth." He said after picking up the phone.

He listened for a couple of seconds.

"I'm on it." He said before hanging up.

Minutes later, he was running down the FBI lobby and out to the parking lot. He got in his SUV and left for the Jeffersonian.

"How was your week-end?" Brennan asked her friend as she came in her office.

"Oh it was okay. James and I went to his parents' house."

"So you met the parents? Wow! This must be getting serious."

"Ya, I guess." Angela replied.

She and James had been dating for three months, which has been the longest relationship for her. She wasn't sure she had been ready to take the giant step she had taken this week-end but there wasn't much she could do about it now.

"What did you do this week-end?"

"Oh nothing much. I worked on my novel. I was finally able to send it to my publisher yesterday."

"That's all you did?"

"Yes."

Angela looked at her friend and smiled apologetically. She couldn't believe how Brennan could lead such a boring life. If only she could let herself get close to Booth, at least she would have something to spice up her life a little.

As if sensing her thoughts, Brennan looked up at her friend and smiled.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

The voice startled them. Angela turned around and Brennan tried to look past her friend to see who was standing at the door.

"We have a case." He simply told her.

In a flash Brennan was on her feet and ready to go.

"Booth where are we going?"

"Westminster, Maryland, ma'am."

"Why are we going to Westminster, Maryland?" Brennan asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

"It's simple, Bones. Bones were found in a wood a little outside of Westminster. According to the local police they look pretty old. We won't be there for a long time. The police just needs you to pull a quick ID and we're out of there."

Bones nodded.

"Are you okay?" Booth asked, concerned.

"Ya. I'm fine."

Brennan turned and looked out the window. No she wasn't fine. Westminster was her hometown.

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They pulled into the parking lot of a very nice house around 1:00 pm. Several police cars were already parked in front of the house. Booth and Brennan got out and were immediately blinded by the sun shinning brightly.

Booth walked up to the a cop and flashed his badge. The cop nodded and lifted the yellow band and let them through. A man came towards them.

"Hi. I'm Agent Wardon from the Westminster Police. You must be Special Agent Booth. And this is?"

"Temperance Brennan. She's my partner."

"FBI?"

"No. Head forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian Lab in Washington, DC."

"Pleasure to meet you." Agent Wardon said, holding out his hand.

But Brennan didn't move. Booth casted her a glance and smiled.

Agent Wardon dropped his hand and cleared his throat.

"I'll show you to the bones." He told them.

He lead them to the backyard of the house. Brennan felt uneasy. She had a feeling she had been here before but couldn't remember when. The house didn't seem familiar but the area obviously did. The trees, the smell and even the swing pending from the tree at the other end of the lawn all seemed familiar to her.

Booth turned to look at his partner. Something was bothering her, he could tell. She was too quiet and kept looking around like she was trying to remember where she had seen something.

Bones felt the pair of eyes on her and turned around. Before he could say anything, she told him she was fine. And he didn't push it.

They followed Agent Wardon to the end of the property and into a small forest. The cop lead them further and further into the wood, so much that they couldn't see the house anymore. Finally he stopped and pointed to the ground. They both looked at the ground. A garbage bag was open and Brennan could see bones coming out of it.

Brennan crouched down, took out the remains and examined them.

"So? What is your diagnostic?" Agent Wardon asked her.

"I can't say much at the moment. From what I see there are too many bones for one human body. I'd say there we are dealing with at least two bodies, maybe even three. But there's just one thing I don't understand."

"What is it?" Booth asked.

"Well the bones seem pretty old but the garbage bag looks brand-new."

Brennan looked up at her partner and she could see that he was as confused as she was.

"So what does that mean?" Agent Wardon asked.

"I don't know. That's what we'll need to find out."

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Bones scattered the bones across her table. This would take her all night, maybe even more. She had promised Agent Wardon that she'd be able to give her an ID by Thursday. It gave her three days to find out who the person on her table was.

She had been working for about an hour when Booth walked in the chamber. She didn't look up from her table.

"Where are you up to?" he asked her.

"I'm almost done sorting through the bones. I'm separating them into two piles. Person A and Person B."

"You still think there are two people in there?"

"Booth, how many people do you know that have four hands?"

Booth looked down at the table. Four hands were lined up side-by-side. She had to be right.

"So far, do you have any idea if we're dealing with two men, two women or one man and a woman?"

"Zack is doing an autopsy on the skulls to figure that out. My gut feeling is that we have here a woman and a man but then again..."

Her mouth dropped as she looked at the bones she was holding in her hands.

"What?"

"Booth, do you know what this is?"

"No."

"This is a rib."

"OK... and?"

"Well it doesn't belong to any of the victims."

"What do you mean?"

"This proves my gut feeling. There is at least one woman in there and she was pregnant."

"Whoa what?"

"And by the looks of it I'd say that she was about six months pregnant."

Brennan looked up at Booth and she could see by the tension in his jaw that he was controlling himself. Anger was raging inside of him she could see it. Booth looked at the tiny rib she was holding in her hand.

"Put your heart in a box, Booth. It'll help."

"I'm not capable of doing that, Bones. Maybe you are but I'm not."

Brennan looked back down at her table and placed the rib beside the two piles.

"I've been meaning to ask you. Were you okay today? You seemed nervous when we were in Westminster."

Brennan sighed. She looked up from her table once again and turned to look at her friend. She stared in his eyes and felt her heart racing faster. Booth searched for the truth in her eyes but couldn't find it. She would have to speak this time.

"I was born and raised in Westminster."

Booth blinked rapidly. No wonder she had seem so tensed and uneasy. It must have been hard for her to be back in her hometown. She had tried so hard to forget her childhood, to forget her parents and today she had had to go back to all of that. Every house, every tree must have been whispering to her her life story.

"I'm sorry I took you there."

"Hey don't worry about it. I'm fine now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure."

Brennan smiled at him and he smiled back. Then he turned serious once again.

"Did you realize that the remains there could belong to someone you once knew?"

"I'm really well aware of that Booth because you see, the more I look at the bones, the more it confirms what I first thought when I saw them. These people, whoever they are, have been dead for at least 15 years."


	2. Chapter 2 The bodies

Author's note: Thank you for the reviews. I'm really glad you're enjoying the story so far. Just wanted to make some things clear: most of the facts that are in there that you do not recognize were made up by me, such as her hometown in the first chapter and some of the future information in the story. I saw all of the episodes of Bones but maybe I missed out on some facts so if some stuff don't make sense, I'm sorry, and please tell me so I can arrange that. Also, one more thing... English isn't my first language. Even though I'm fluent in it, I still have trouble sometimes writing stories in English. So sometimes, my grammar or my sentence structures won't be really good but please bare with me. It's not like you'll have to guess what I meant. Anyway, have fun reading the rest!

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Chapter 2: The bodies

The rest of the day passed quickly. By the end of it, Brennan had managed to divide the bones into three piles and had started working on the reconstruction of the first body. She had promised Booth some final results on at least one of the bodies by the end of the following day and she intended on keeping that promise.

Angela had managed to drag her out of the lab and into her car at around 9:00 pm. She had also begged her to go out to a club with her but Brennan had refused. She was tired and just wanted to go home. Angela hadn't persisted.

She was about maybe ten blocks away from her apartment building when her cell phone rang. She reached over to her purse sitting in the passenger seat and with one hand searched for her phone. When she finally found it, she pressed Talk.

"Brennan." She answered.

There was no answer.

"Hello?"

Still silence. She was about to hang up when the person finally replied.

"Temperance?" the voice asked.

"Yeah..."

But then she heard a click. The other person had hung up.

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"What do you mean the person hung up?" Booth asked.

"I mean, the person just hung up."

"And they didn't say anything besides your name?"

"Booth, I was on the phone with them. I know what the person said."

"Sorry, I just don't understand all of this. This is so confusing."

"Tell me about it."

"Look, Bones, I have to go, OK? Just promise me you'll be careful and if there's anything else, just call me, OK?"

"All right, I will. Bye."

Then they hung up.

Bones pulled up in the parking lot of her building. This was just too strange, she thought. Twice in two days she had had a strange phone call. Who could be calling her? And why were they calling so late at night? As she headed up to her apartment, she searched through her directory to see who had called. She found the same phone number as the last time.

"Who are you?" she whispered to the phone.

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"What do we have here?" Brennan asked her assistant as she came up to the examination table.

A skeleton laid in front of her and she was waiting for Zack to tell her what he had managed to find out.

"This victim is a male, possibly between the ages of 40 and 45 years old at the time of the death. From what you have reconstructed, I'd say the victim was between 5'11" and 6'3" in height."

"What else did you manage to find out?" she asked him.

"Nothing."

"Do you mind if I take a look?"

"Ya sure."

Zack moved back a little to let his boss some room to study the body. She looked at it carefully and pointed out several things that Zack had missed.

"He broke his ankle, probably when he was a teenager. I'd say around the ages of 16. And look, this rib looks like it has been broken too. How could you have overlooked that, Zack?"

Her question had came out a little harsher than she had meant it. Zack looked down.

"Sorry, Dr. Brennan. I've just been a little preoccupied lately, that's all."

"What's the matter?"

"My... dad is sick."

"Is he going to be OK?"

"We don't know. At the moment, I just wish I could be with him."

Brennan, who was still inspecting the body, looked up from her examination table.

"Well Zack, if you need to take some time off to go see him, feel free. I'll work out something with Dr. Goodman."

"Really? You could do that?"

"Ya."

"Thanks. That would be great."

"Now, are you ready to work on the second body? Don't worry, I'll help you out."

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"Hey Bones, it's me."

"Booth! This is so weird. I was just thinking about you."

"Really?" he asked, a grin on his face.

"Don't sound too happy. I wasn't thinking about you, I was thinking that I should call you. That's all."

"Ya... OK. So, what have you got for me, Bones?"

At that moment, his boss came in his office and mouthed something to him. Booth replied that he was a little busy.

"It's for a case." He whispered, covering the phone.

His boss nodded and reluctantly left the agent's office.

"Sorry Bones, could you repeat that? My boss just came in."

"I said that the bodies belonged to a man aged 40 to 45 years old at the time of his death and to a woman in the same age range. They were both tall. The man stood at about 6 feet tall while the woman was probably 5'8" or 5'9". The tiny bones, as I told you earlier, belonged to an unborn baby. From the way the bones were developped, I'm thinking the woman was five months pregnant, maybe even six."

Booth sighed. She had told him earlier but he just wasn't getting used to hearing stuff like this.

"You OK?" Bones asked.

"Ya. I'm fine. I just... I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing stuff like this."

"Like what?"

"Like you telling me a pregnant woman was murdered, along with her unborn child who wasn't even old enough to survive on his own."

"I know what you mean."

Booth took a deep breath and decided to change the subject.

"What else did you manage to find out? Any cause of death?"

"No, not yet. The skulls are in perfect conditions and so is the rest of the body. The only thing wrong with them is that they had some fractures as kids but that's something pretty normal."

"What kind of fractures?"

"Well the man broke his rib as a teenager but it looked healed to me. Badly healed but healed nevertheless. We also found out the he broke his ankle, I'd say not long before he died. The woman broke her wrist some time in her life. That's all we could find out."

"Time of death?"

"I still stick to what I said earlier: fifteen years ago. Booth, would you mind searching in the missing person's reports to see if you could find something, anything really, that could help us identify these people."

"Ya sure. Anything I can do to help, Bones."

"Anything? Really?"

"Ya."

"Then could you stop calling me Bones?"

Booth let out a laugh.

"That I cannot do Bones."

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Two days had passed since Brennan's conversation with Booth and she still hadn't heard from him. The dentures had been taken on both the victims but without a missing person's report, there could be no confirmation for either of them. So Brennan had put the case aside and had decided to work on the new remains the local police had brought in. She assisted other forensic anthropologists in their examinations and worked a little on her book.

But despite her will to forget about the case, she just couldn't. She was feeling some kind of connection to the victims. What if she had actually known them? Maybe they had been her neighbors or maybe even the mailman and his wife. Every day, she had taken out the bones at least three times and had check them once again.

"I have a feeling I've missed something." She had replied to Angela when she had seen her today looking at the bodies for the second time.

"Sweetie, you've been over those bodies at least ten times. There's nothing else you'll get out of them. By the way, why haven't you asked me to draw their faces yet? It'll be way easier matching them to a missing person's file than with their dentures.

Brennan looked up at her. She had completely forgotten about it. Or had she?

"Is it because they come from you hometown? Because if it is, it doesn't mean you know them. You haven't been there in a while."

"They died fifteen years ago, maybe even before. I was still in Westminster at that time."

"But still, it doesn't mean you know them. Come on, let me draw their faces and I'll prove to you that I'm right."

"Fine."

And Angela had left, leaving Brennan alone in her lab. She had looked once more at the victims and had whispered:

"Do I know you?"

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"Hello?"

"Angela? It's Booth. I need to talk to you."


	3. Chapter 3 Blast from the Past

Chapter 3 – Blast from the Past

It was now Friday night. Brennan was once again working late at the lab. Booth still hadn't called her back and she had tried calling him without any luck. She always got his answering machine, whether she called at his office or his cell phone. She had even tried to call at his house but he hadn't picked up the phone.

Angela was also nowhere to be seen. Nobody knew where she was and hadn't heard from her either.

So it was a worried Brennan who was working on her novel tonight despite the fact that she knew she was being irrational. Nothing had happened to her friends. They were probably safe wherever they were and probably had a good reason for not calling her. She also found herself being more worried about Booth than about her best friend. She pushed that feeling aside.

Her cell phone rang just as she was getting ready to leave. Thinking it was either Angela or Booth, she quickly grabbed her phone. When she saw the same unknown phone number, she groaned in frustration.

"Brennan."

"Tempe?"

"Ya..." she replied, unsure.

She could only remember two people calling her that: her ex and... her brother.

"Tempe, it's me... Russ."

She felt like the world around her had started spinning. She had to sit down. She searched fo the chair with her spare hand and soon found it. She steadied it and sat down. She still hadn't said anything.

"Tempe, are you still there?"

"Ya... ya, I'm here." She answered, her throat suddenly really dry.

"Sorry about the last couple of days. It was hard for me to... you know... call you after so many years."

"How..." she cleared her throat. "How did you get my phone number? Heck, how did you get my cell phone number?"

"Got it from your agent."

"My agent?"

"Ya. Listen, Tempe, I need to see you. There are some things you need to know."

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"Are you sure? Maybe we should look through more files."

"Angela, we've been at it for three days. It's them, OK? I searched through millions of missing person's reports and the only two that matches the descriptions Bones made were these two. Besides, the pictures even match your sketches."

Angela looked down at her drawings. She couldn't deny it. The people she had drawn from the skulls matched perfectly the two faces staring at her from their missing person's reports. She couldn't believe it. When Booth had showed them to her, she thought that she had read wrong. It just couldn't be, after all this time? She had taken the reports from Booth's hands and had looked at them from up close. There was no denying. The names were written in big red block letters: James and Paulina Brennan.

"I just can't believe it. Who's gonna tell her?" Angela asked.

"You should do it. You're her best friend. She'll listen."

"Ya, you're right. She'll listen to her best friend. That's why you should tell her."

"What? Me? No. I'm not her best friend, you are."

"By title only. Come on, Booth, she spends way more time with you than with me and she trusts you. By definition, you're her best friend. You're closer to her than I am. She calls me her best friend because she doesn't want to admit that her real best friend is in fact you."

Booth sighed.

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He knocked three times but he knew she wouldn't have heard him. He could hear the vacuum cleaner through the door. Was she cleaning? Why? Well there was no point in knocking again. He tried turning the doorknob. The door wasn't locked. He pushed it open slowly.

He stepped in the apartment and closed the door behind him. He could still hear the vacuum.

"Bones?"

Seconds later silence filled the apartment. He heard her footsteps on the carpet.

"Booth? What are you doing here?" she asked, shocked to see him. "Who let you in?"

"Well I knocked but I figured you didn't hear me with all the noise. So I let myself in."

"Oh. Why are you here?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"OK.. what?" she replied as she put her hands on her hips and stared at her friend.

"Here? Let's go in the living room instead. We'll be more comfortable."

Brennan looked at him strangely but he didn't notice. He avoided eye contact as they made their way to the living room but was forced to face her as he motioned her to sit down. Both of them sat down on the couch.

"Booth, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"

She looked worried.

"Nothing is wrong. Why would you say that?"

"Well wouldn't you if you saw me that way?"

"What way?"

"This way. You're all mysterious. First you tell me you need to tell me something, then you tell me to go in the living room because we'll be more comfortable and now you're avoiding eye contact. This isn't like you."

Booth felt his throat go dry. This was a really bad idea.

"Were you cleaning in here?" he stalled.

"Don't change the subject." She replied, a smile stretching on her face.

Booth looked into her eyes and felt his confidence shatter. Again, he thought it was a really bad idea. He knew exactly how this was going to happen. He would tell her then she would tear up. He would try to comfort her but she would push him away. She would tell him that he's lying, that it wasn't funny, that he shouldn't make jokes like that. She would tell him to leave. He would have to and that special bond that they had built over the last two years would be broken down to nothing. He didn't want to risk that and he had told Angela.

"She's going to hate me if I tell her."

"No she's not. Don't worry about it. This will only bring you closer."

"Well why don't you do it then? You're the one who said you two weren't close anymore."

"Because I don't love her. But you do. And I know that deep deep down inside of her, she does too."

Booth had laughed her response off then but was she right? Was that the reason why he was reluctant to tell her what he wanted to tell her? Because if he did, it would break her heart meaning that he would be breaking his own at the same time?

He felt that she was on the verge of saying something. He cut her off.

"Angela and I managed to identify your victims."

"That's great!"

She sounded falsely enthusiastic.

"The remains we found, well, they belonged to your parents."

Booth immediately looked away. He couldn't stand to look at her while her heart was slowly breaking. But when she didn't say anything, he felt like he had to look at her.

Her eyes were filled with tears that, he saw, she was fighting really hard to keep them where they were. Then, slowly, one tear trailed down her face and was quickly followed by another. Soon tears were pouring down her face.

"You're lying! It can't be them! I would have recognize them!"

"From their bones? Come on, Temperance, you're smarter than that! There is no way you could have recognized them."

He couldn't stand to see her like this. He reached out his hand to touch her but she violently pushed his hand away.

"Please leave."

She had said it so quietly that he had barely heard her.

"What?"

"Please go away!" she begged him.

She looked up at him. Booth could see in her eyes that she was serious but he wasn't going anywhere. He gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. Surprisingly, she went willingly. He slowly rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

An hour later, after much sobbing, she fell asleep in his arms.


	4. Chapter 4 Russ

Author's note: I had a little trouble writing this chapter. This is my first draft. Read it and tell me what you think. Maybe I could change a couple of things.

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Chapter 4 – Russ

When Brennan opened her eyes she noticed she wasn't in the living room anymore. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there. She turned to look at her clock: it was 3:30. She sat upright in her bed. Russ! He said that he'd be over at 4:00 and she wasn't even ready. She got to her feet and made her way to the bathroom. She turned on the water and got climbed into the shower.

From the kitchen, Booth could hear the water running. He couldn't help but smile. She was awake. Now they'd be able to talk about what had happened but that is if she would want to talk to him.

After an hour of crying, Brennan had fell asleep in his arms and Booth had carried her to her bedroom. He had tucked her in and had gone back to the living room. It had been about two hours ago. He had called Angela after like he had promised to tell her how things had gone. Angela had been sympathetic.

"Just don't leave her alone tonight. I'll stop by tomorrow morning to check up on her."

Booth told her he had no intentions on leaving either.

The knocks at the door brought him back to reality. Unconsciously he walked to the door and opened it. He was surprised to see a tall man about his height standing in front of him. He looked vaguely familiar with his brown hair and blue eyes.

"Who are you?" Booth asked the stranger.

"Oh I'm sorry. I must have the wrong apartment. I'm looking for Temperance."

"No you have the right apartment. Please, come in."

The stranger stepped in the apartment and closed the door behind him. Booth looked at him suspiciously.

"I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Russ, Tempe's brother." Russ said, extending a hand.

Tempe's brother? Booth shook his hand.

"I'm Booth. Special Agent Seeley Booth. I'm Bones... I mean, Temperance's partner. I work for the FBI."

"Are you her boyfriend too?"

Booth laughed nervously.

"No. We're just friends."

"Then if you're only Temperance's colleague, why are you answering her door? Where's my sister?"

"She's in the shower." Booth replied, uncomfortable.

He didn't know why he had answered her door. He just did, without thinking. Like it had been the natural thing to do.

Russ' eyes never left Booth and Booth began to feel really uncomfortable. He felt like he had to explain himself.

"I came by to see Bones. I had something to tell her about..."

Then the fact that he was talking to Bones' brother hit him. This wasn't the way he was supposed to announce to him that he had found the remains of his parents.

"Did you just call my sister Bones?"

"Yes I did. That's what I call her. Kind of like a pet name, you know?"

"What kind of pet name is that?"

For an estranged brother, he was sure overprotective of his little sister.

"Look, don't take that like I don't respect your sister. I more than respect her, actually. I haven't heard complaining about it in a while so I'm guessing she just got used to it."

Russ nodded.

Booth heard the water being turned off in the bathroom.

"Listen Temperance is going to be out any minute. Do you want to sit in living room while you wait for her?"

But Booth didn't give him time to answer. He led Russ to the living room and went back to the kitchen. He didn't want to be there when Brennan was reunited with her brother.

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Brennan cautiously stepped out of the shower. She had forgotten to put a towel on the floor and didn't want to slip. She dried off herself and wrapped a towel around her. She walked off to her room.

She didn't feel like blow-drying her hair. She managed to pull them up in a ponytail and then got dressed. She had heard Booth talking in the living room and she wondered who he had been talking to. She looked at the clock. It was ten to four.

When she was finally ready she decided that she would go fix something up for her brother. He would probably be hungry. She walked into the living room and stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a familiar voice say her name. She turned around.

"Russ!"

"You looked surprised to see me. Didn't I tell you I was coming by today?"

But she was too shocked to say anything. She hadn't expected him to be sitting in her living room when she came out of her bedroom. Who had let him in? Did it really matter? It felt so weird being in the same room as him. She couldn't take her eyes off her brother. He had changed so much. He had gone from the slightly overweight Russ from Westminster to the toned Russ from California. His hair was shorter than it had been and his eyes, well, his eyes were different. They were almost... empty. But his smile hadn't changed one bit. It was still the sweet smile she remembered he had back when they were young.

"Who let you in?"

"Your friend let me in. Booth, I think his name is?"

"He's still here?" Brennan asked suddenly panicked. "Where is he?"

"In the kitchen, I think."

Brennan turned around and walked to her kitchen. Had Booth told her brother about the remains? When she saw Booth leaning against her counter, her expression immediately changed from surprise to... anger?

"What are you still doing here?" she asked him.

"I just wanted to make sure you were OK."

"Well I'm fine. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave. My brother needs to talk to me."

"Geez relax Bones. Besides I can't leave. It is my duty to tell your brother about your parents."

"What? No! You are not telling him anything."

Booth lowered his voice.

"He has the right to know, Bones. He was their son. I know you'll never tell him because you're in denial."

"I am not in denial. You know I don't believe all this psychology stuff. The remains on my examination tables are not my parents'."

Booth ignored her.

"Plus I need him to come down to my office to identify the drawings that Angela made."

"Why don't you let me identify them myself?"

"Because you're capable of saying that they are not your parents." He snapped.

Brennan wanted to say something but she couldn't. Instead she simply stared at him, shocked. She had seen that side of him, the mean one if you will, but she had never been the victim of that side of him. It hurt.

Booth stared at her. He was starting to feel bad. He hadn't mean to snap but she was getting in the way of his investigation... once again.

"Also you have been asked to step out of the case. It would be unprofessional if you actually investigated the deaths of your own parents. I can't have that. I'm sorry, Bones."

This time Brennan reacted. She didn't say anything but simply walked back to her brother. Booth followed.

Russ looked up at the two people staring at him. His eyes fell on his sister first. She looked like she was going to cry. Her jaw was clenched and he could see her fighting against her tears.

Booth sat down on a chair near the couch and leaned forward towards Russ.

"A couple of days ago, Bones and I got called to a house in Westminster because some bones had been found in a small wood. Your sister brought back the bones to her lab and her colleague Angela drew their faces. And when we tried matching them to a missing person's report, we got a match. They were your parents."

Brennan, who had been looking down at her feet, looked up to her brother but he was avoiding her gaze. He simply looked a couple of inches beside her. His face didn't show any emotion. His eyes were empty. No expression there either.

Booth didn't say anything. He gave Russ a couple of seconds to understand what he had just said. But after a minute or two of silence, Russ still hadn't said anything. He wasn't looking at the wall anymore but looking at Booth almost expectantly, like he was expecting Booth to say something else. But Booth didn't know what else to say.

"If you don't mind, I would like to ask you some questions. Could you tell me what happened on the night your parents disappeared?"

Before Russ had the chance to answer, Brennan stepped in.

"Booth, you can't do that! He's my brother! He already answered these questions before, he doesn't need to answer them again."

"Bones, will you just let me do my job, please?"

"There is nothing for you to do."

"BONES!"

The sound of his own voice startled him. Never had he yelled at her before. Never had he yelled at a woman like that. He was surprised at himself. He looked up to his friend to see her fighting tears once again. But before he could say something she bolted for her room. Seconds later he heard the door slam shut. Guilt immediately filled his heart.

"You didn't have to yell at her."

Booth turned around. Russ had spoken so quietly he had barely heard him.

"I didn't mean to. I'm just trying to do my job. Ever since I've known about what happened to her parents, I wanted to be the one who would discover the remains and finally help her find the answers that she has longed for for so long. She deserves it. Nobody should have to suffer the way she did."

"You really care about her, don't you?"

"Yes I do. That's why, Russ, I need you tell me everything that you can about your parents' disappearance."

His voice was soft, like he was talking to a little child. He couldn't help it.

"Alright, I will. But not here. Come with me, I need to show you something."

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	5. Chapter 5 Russ's story

I decided to be nice and give you two new chapters to read. I figured that they went together and that it wouldn't make sense if I made you guys wait a couple days in between. Have fun :-) And thank you for the reviews.

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Booth didn't know where Russ was bringing him. He only gave him directions once in a while. Russ finally made him turn into a parking lot. Booth looked up at the enormous hotel. This was probably the hotel where Russ was staying, Booth thought. Russ climbed out of the SUV and Booth did the same.

He followed Russ through the hotel lobby, then to the elevators and then through the confusing hallways of the sixth floor. Both of them were quiet. The hallway was badly lit, it was dark and stuffy. Booth wondered why Russ had picked this hotel out of all the hotels in Washington.

"This trip was probably not planned." Booth thought to himself.

They had been walking through the halls of the hotel for what seemed like an eternity when Russ finally stopped in front of a door. The numbers 621 were written on it. While Russ looked in his pockets for his key, Booth couldn't help but notice the sounds coming from inside of the room.

Russ finally found what he had been looking for and swapped the card in the lock. There was a soft beeping sound and Russ pushed the door open. The noise coming from the room immediately ceased.

Booth followed Tempe's brother inside the badly lit room. Obviously this wasn't a five-star hotel. The curtains were pulled shut and the room was only light by a small bedside lamp and the TV. Booth's eyes scanned the room and fell on four figures standing in various corners.

"Kids, come here please."

In tune, the four children lined up side-by-side between the two queen size beds.

"Booth, I want you to meet my children."

He pointed to each children as he named them.

"These are my daughters Elena and Bridget and these are my boys Corey and Nathan. Kids, this is Booth. He works for the FBI."

"The FBI? Cool!" the two boys said at the same time.

"Ya, it's pretty cool." Booth replied.

He turned to face Russ but Russ was looking at his kids.

"Kids, Agent Booth just needs to talk to me about something. It won't take long. I'll be back for dinner. Bridget, you're in charge."

The tallest of the kids nodded.

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Booth didn't know, once again, where Russ was bringing him. After walking out of the maze that was this hotel, Russ had led him through the gardens surrounding the hotel. Neither of them spoke. Finally, Russ stopped. They had reached a small restaurant on the other side of the gardens. Surprisingly, nobody was eating outside. Russ picked a table and motioned to Booth to sit down.

"We won't be bothered here. Everybody's inside." Russ explained.

Booth nodded.

"I pity my kids for staying in that room all day but I don't want them to walk around and get lost. Or worst. Do you have children, Booth?"

"Yes." Booth replied sadly. "I have son. His name is Parker. He'll be six next month. I don't see him very often. He lives with his mom."

Russ nodded sympathetically.

"My wife and I divorced two years ago. It was really rough on the kids, especially for Bridget. She was 11 at the time and she knew what was going on. I tried to get along with her mother but things were just so complicated. You see, Lucy, my ex-wife, well, she was a little 'unbalanced', if I may say. Something called manic depression or something like that. In her good times we would get along just fine but then on her bad days she would only yell at me and stay in bed. She wouldn't do anything. After the divorce I tried getting custody of the kids but the court wouldn't allow it. They said it was better for the kids to stay with their mother. I didn't fight it. I would get my kids every other week so I figured that it was better than nothing.

Lucy died a couple of months ago. Suicide. The police thought it was a murder and I was their prime suspect. But it turned out that it was in fact a suicide and they closed the file. I got full custody of my kids and I couldn't be happier about it. Of course, the death of my ex-wife and the investigation brought me all back into what had happened to my parents and I don't know why but I felt the need to call Tempe. I hadn't talked to her in ages and I felt bad."

"Why are you telling me this, Russ?" Booth asked.

He was surprised to see Russ being so open and he caught himself wondering how two people related by blood could be so different from one another.

"You see, I called my sister because I needed her help. I work as a daycare worker and I don't make enough money to support my family. I got a second job for this summer and I felt bad leaving Bridget alone with her brothers and sister. So I thought that Tempe could help me out. She could take the kids for the summer."

Booth fought the urge to laugh. Russ really didn't know his sister too well. Then again how could he? They had been separated for so long.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Russ. Your sister isn't what we would call maternal. I don't think she ever took care of kids before."

"I'm not worried because I know you'll be there. Besides, you're a father, you'll know what to do."

Booth chuckled. He still didn't think it was a very good idea but he decided to change the subject.

"Russ, tell me about the night your parents disappeared."

Russ sighed then nodded.

"It all happened almost sixteen years ago. I think it was December 21st. Tempe and I were in our rooms when we heard our parents calling us. We both went downstairs. They told us they were going out and that they'd be back for dinner. They said they would pick up something on the way back. We settled for pizza. Tempe left the house right after them and I told her to be back for 6:00 pm. I figured that my parents would be back by then. Tempe came back at seven and my parents were still not back. We waited an extra hour but when we noticed that they were still not home we decided to make dinner. We watched a bit of TV then went to bed."

"That's it? That's all you can remember?"

"Well it did happen sixteen years ago."

"There's something you're not telling me, Russ. I can see it in your eyes. I'll give you a second chance. I want you to tell me the whole story. Start from the day they disappeared and stop at the day your sister was put in foster care."

Russ took a deep breath. This would be a long story.

"As I said, it happened on December 21st. I had woken up late that day, around 11:00 am and I heard my parents fighting downstairs. I crept down quietly and sat on the last step. I listened. I couldn't hear much. I heard my dad say not to talk so loud, that he didn't want us to hear them. I heard my name and my sister's then I heard a name I hadn't heard in the longest time. They mentioned Brenda."

"Tell me more about Brenda."

Booth took out a notepad and jotted down something. Russ didn't notice.

"Brenda was our nanny. My parents hired her after I was born because my mother was suffering from post-delivery depression, or something like that, and she couldn't take care of me properly. At first, Brenda was only supposed to stay until my mom had gotten better but instead she simply moved in with us. She helped my mother raise me and then she helped when Tempe arrived. She stayed with us until I was 15 and Tempe was 11. My parents decided that I was old enough to take care of myself and my sister and that we wouldn't need her anymore. Brenda was mad, I could tell, but she left anyway. Never said anything. Tempe and I visited her often after she moved out. She was like a second mother to us.

After Brenda moved out, my parents never mentioned her again. It was like she had never existed. That's why we never told our parents when we went over to her house. We didn't want to upset them. This is also why I was surprised to hear my mother mention her name. My dad replied that they weren't going to need her this time, that she'd be able to do it herself and that anyway Russ and Tempe were old enough to help out."

"Your sister found the remains of a five-month old unborn baby among the remains of your parents. Did you know she was pregnant?"

"Yes, I did. But my sister didn't. She was too busy focusing on her schoolwork she barely even notice that there was a world outside of her studies. She had a couple of friends but her books were still her best friends."

Booth smiled. He could totally picture a younger Brennan, nose in her books, totally absorbed by what she was reading.

"I figured that my mom wanted Brenda to come back to help with the baby. I heard my parents moving around the kitchen and since I didn't want to get caught listening I ran back to my room.

Later that day, I heard the phone ring and my dad picked it up. I couldn't hear his conversation but by the tone he was using I was thinking he was talking to Brenda. I did manage to catch the words baby and fine. I figured he was talking about my mom being fine and able to raise her baby by herself.

Maybe an hour later, my parents called us down. Like I told you earlier, they said they were going out for a while but would be back for dinner. I didn't think anything of it. I figured my mom was going to a doctor's appointment or something. Right after they left, Tempe surprised me. She told me she was going over to her friend's house. I think her name was Felicity or something. Anyway. She said that they were going to go see a movie. I told her to be back by six. She closed the door behind her before she could answer.

I stayed alone for most of the afternoon. Tempe came back at seven, apologized for being late and asked me if our parents were back because she was starving. I told her they hadn't come home yet. We sat in the living room for a while, watched TV and when at eight they were still not there, we went to the kitchen and made ourselves dinner.

We ate in silence. I kept an ear out for the sound of tires on the gravel but I didn't hear anything. Tempe went to bed around 10 but I stayed up. I wanted to be there when my parents came home. At midnight though I gave up and went to bed."

"Did you think something was wrong?"

"Not really. I mean, I wasn't worried sick. My parents sometimes disappeared for a day but would eventually pop up the next day. They were kind of spontaneous. I figured they had wanted some time alone and had gone to a hotel or something. When I woke up the next morning, they were still not there. Tempe was gone too. Since I didn't feel like spending the day alone, I decided to leave too. I went to play hockey with some friends. I came back around five. Tempe was waiting for me in the living room but my parents were still not there.

For the next two days, we barely spent any time in the house. Tempe was out and so was I. But on Christmas eve, neither of us could bring ourselves to leave the house. We stayed inside and waited for our parents. We figured that they would at least come back for Christmas.

Tempe went to bed really late but I stayed up. I waited until she was asleep and I went into my parents' bedroom. I knew they kept the presents there. I wanted to make sure that Tempe had a normal Christmas. So I brought the Christmas presents down, put them under the tree and went to bed.

I woke up before her and crept downstairs. I turned on the Christmas lights and sat on the couch. I waited. She came down maybe twenty minutes later. She came running into the living room but stopped abruptly when she saw me. Next thing I knew, she was throwing a fit. It looked like she had gone psycho. She took the nearest lamp and chucked it at me. I ducked just in time and it hit the wall instead. Seconds later, I heard the door slam shut. I looked out the window and saw her running down the street.

After that I lost it. I was really angry with her and I decided to leave. I came back three days later. Police cars were lined up in front of my house. I walked in and a policeman led me to my living room. I looked down and saw Tempe already sitting on the couch. Her eyes were bloodshot and it was obvious that she had cried. The cop told me to sit down and he told me that they had found my parents' car but that my parents were nowhere to be found. They said that a couple of teams were searching the area but so far no clues had been found as to where they had gone. I looked at Tempe but she avoiding me. Then the police said that because Tempe was a minor that she'd have to be taken by the foster care. I answered the cops' questions and then I left.

I took the first plane to California and left Maryland."

"That's the whole story?"

"That's the whole story."

"Russ, this Brenda... what was her full name?"

"Brenda Prescott."


	6. Chapter 6 Temperance's story

"Buy her lilies." Russ had told her Booth just before they had gone their separate ways. "It's the best way to have her forgive you. She just loves those flowers."

Booth didn't know why he had actually taken Russ' advice on that but he had found himself nevertheless standing in front of Brennan's door, a bouquet of lilies in his hands. He had knocked three times and was waiting for Brennan to answer her door. He didn't wait long before the door opened and a very tired Brennan stood in front of him.

Before she could say anything or slam the door in his face he practically shoved the flowers in her face. She took a step back, surprised, then a small smile stretched on her face. She slowly took the flowers. Booth let go of the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Brennan nodded. She stepped aside to let her friend and Booth closed the down behind him.

"How did you know?" she asked him, still smelling the flowers.

"How did I know what?"

"The lilies? How did you know they were my favorite flowers?"

"Lucky shot?" He replied. "Bones, I'll need to ask you a couple of questions, I mean, if you're up for it. If you're not, I totally understand."

"Russ told you huh? He told you what happened?"

Brennan looked up from her flowers.

"Yeah."

Booth looked down. He didn't like doing stuff behind her back but this time he didn't have a choice. He wanted the answers, he knew she wanted them too, and he was determined to give them to her.

"Go in the living room. I'll be right with you."

Booth disappeared in the living room while Brennan went in the kitchen. While she looked in her cupboards for a vase, she couldn't help but smile despite all the pain she was feeling. It had been so sweet of him to bring her flowers. She hated the fact that he had brought her lilies. If it had been any other kind of flowers she wouldn't have forgiven him so easily. But lilies... she had a feeling his brother had been in on it. He was probably the one who had told Booth about it.

"Give her lilies, she'll forgive you."

She could practically hear Russ telling him that.

She joined Booth a couple of minutes later. She had finally found a vase and the flowers were now resting comfortably in their new watery home. She sat down beside Booth and turned to face him. She took his hands between hers but he immediately pulled them away.

"It's not the time for this, Temperance. I have a couple of questions, it won't take long. I promise."

Bones nodded.

"Your brother already gave me the whole story so you won't need to tell me everything. He said that the day your parents disappeared, they had a fight. Did you know that?"

"No I didn't. I was pretty much oblivious to everything around me. You see, I was reading this book on..."

"Let's not get side-tracked, Bones."

He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"As you now know, your mother was pregnant and according to your brother, who heard part of their fight, they were arguing over a woman named Brenda."

"Brenda?"

Her face had lit up at the sound of her nanny's name. Russ was right. To them, she was like a second mother.

"Yes. Apparently your mom was having doubts on her ability to raise the new baby and she wanted to call Brenda back. Your brother didn't say much about that woman. Tell me about her."

"She was really nice. Apparently she moved in when Russ was just a baby. She raised me. My mom was always there for us, she loved us, but Brenda always seemed to be there even more for us, to love us even more. She would take us on picnics, to the park, to the pool, she took us on trips. She went to school with me on my first day of kindergarten. She helped me and Russ with our homework. Later, whenever we had a problem, we would go see Brenda. She always had the answer to every tiny problem."

"Was your mother jealous of Brenda?"

"I think she was. She never really showed it until Brenda left us for good. When I was 11, my mom thanked her for all of her help and Brenda left. Then my parents went on about their lives and never mentioned her again. Russ and I would go visit Brenda behind our parents' backs. We thought it would upset them if they found out."

"How old was Brenda?"

"She was my dad's age. She was 41 when she left us."

"What happened to her after she left your house?"

"She bought a small house not too far from where we lived. It was small but cozy. Me and Russ even had our own rooms."

"Where did she get her money?"

"Her parents died. She had a lot of money while she was living with us but she never really spent any."

"The house where she lived, where was it?"

Brennan stopped to think for a moment.

"Five streets away from ours. It was close to my school."

"Yes Tempe but where was it? Inside Westminster? Outside of it? Downtown?"

Brennan was uncomfortable and Booth sensed it. He also sensed there was something she wasn't telling him. After a couple of seconds of silence, Brennan finally answered.

"We passed it on our way back from the site last week. Remember, you said that it was a lovely house?"

Booth thought back to a week before. He did remember saying that about a house but he couldn't remember anything else. He couldn't remember what the house had looked like at all.

"Other than moving to that house, what else happened?"

"Nothing. She just lived off her parents' money."

"How old were you the last time you saw Brenda?"

"I was maybe 13, maybe 14. I can't remember. Russ and I had slept at her house that night. Even though our room had been there for a while, we had never used it. When we woke up the next morning, Brenda was all ready up and had made us breakfast. Pancakes, just the way we loved them. She had sat down with us and had looked at us. She said that we wouldn't be able to come here anymore. When I asked her why, she almost started crying. She said that it was time for us to go our separate ways. That we had a loving family and that's where we belonged. I remember looking across the table at Russ. He was as confused as I was. After that morning, we never heard from Brenda again. Every time we'd stop by, she'd never open the door. We gave up after a while and went on with our lives. But I never really forgot her."

Booth smiled sympathetically.

"Russ also mentioned that just before leaving your house, your parents got a call from Brenda. Did you know that?"

"No, I didn't." She answered honestly.

"He also mentioned that on that day, you did something that really surprised him: you went to the movies with a friend of yours. Do you remember that?"

"Yes. I went with Felicity. Except we didn't go see a movie."

"Oh?"

"You see, Felicity had this crush on this guy and we went to meet him up somewhere. We did eventually make it to the movies except Felicity ditched me. She said that she wanted to spend time alone with Gerry I think his name was and had left me alone outside the movie theater."

Brennan immediately stopped talking and Booth sensed that something was wrong. There was once again another detail she was hiding from him. Bones felt the pair of eyes on her and looked away. She didn't know if she should tell him or not. She had never told that part to anyone. Not even to the policemen who had interviewed her back then. She felt ashamed, she felt terrible. She felt like it had been her fault that her parents had died. Even today she could feel herself pushing that thought away whenever it came back to haunt her. But today she'd have to tell Booth. That man could read her mind. She wouldn't be able to hide this from him and deep down inside she didn't want to either.

"What happened after that, Temperance?"

She looked up to him. He had spoken so gently. Her name, coming out of his mouth, had sounded like music to her ears and she found herself wishing he called her that more often. There was just something in the way he said her name that made the butterflies in her stomach dance around.

"Felicity ditched you then what?"

Brennan took a deep breath. The images flowed through her mind as she told Booth what had happened.

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She had walked out of the movie theater pretty angry. She was storming down the street when she saw a car pull over near her. She turned around and was surprised to see her parents.

"What are you doing here, Tempe?" her mother asked.

"I was with Felicity but she ditched me." Temperance answered. "Can I have a ride home with you guys?"

Her mother had looked away, evidently uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but you can't. There's just one place we have to go to and then we'll come back home. I promise."

Then she had seen it. She had meant to look at what her mother was holding in her hands but her eyes had fallen on the bulging stomach instead. How come she had never noticed that before? How could she have not noticed?

"Mom? What's this?"

"What's what, Honey?"

"That! Your stomach. It's bulging. Why? Are you pregnant?"

Paulina hadn't answered. Temperance heard her father cleared his throat and tell her mother that they should go on their way.

"Not before you tell me if you're pregnant or not!" Tempe had said.

"Sweetie, listen. Yes, I am pregnant but..."

"Why but? Does Russ know about this? Of course he knows, you always favored him. He wasn't as smart as me so guys had to tell him stuff like that. Of course, smart Tempe didn't need to know all of that because she's the smart one, she can guess pretty much anything!"

"Sweetie, that's not..."

"When were you planning on telling me this? When the baby was born? When your stomach started to show and that you wouldn't be able to hide it anymore?"

"Tempe, we were going to tell you and Russ tonight."

"I don't believe you!"

James had stepped in.

"Paulina, we really need to go."

"Fine, go! Leave! I don't care. I'll walk home! Better than that, I'll walk to Brenda's! At least she treats me like her own daughter."

Just before the car had sped off, Temperance had seen the look on her mother's face. She knew that she had hurt her. But back then, at that particular moment, she hadn't felt bad.

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"So you saw your parents after they left the house?"

"Yes."

"What time was that at?"

"I don't know. It was passed six maybe. I have no clue."

"Is there anything else you can remember?"

"No, that's it."

"You said that your eyes were drawn to what your mother was holding just before your eyes found your mother's stomach. What was it?"

"I can't remember."

"You can't remember or you don't want to remember?"

A little bit of both, Tempe thought to herself.

"I can't remember."

"Where do you think your parents were going? You said your dad looked in a rush."

"I don't know."

"Do you think that they could have been going to Brenda's house?"

"It's possible. Maybe. Look, Booth, I don't know."

Booth could feel that she was growing impatient. He decided to call it a day.

"Come on, get dressed, I'm taking you out."


	7. Chapter 7 Dinner and Surprises

Angela was pacing back and forth in her friend's office. She wasn't nervous or anything. She was excited. An hour before, Brennan had let slipped that Booth had taken her out the night before and now Angela wanted all the gory details. But Brennan had been called to an examination room where a newly recruited anthropologist had troubles analyzing some remains. Brennan had told Angela that she wouldn't be gone for long so Angela had decided to wait for her friend in her office.

Brennan finally came back.

"Finally! I've been waiting for you for like an hour." Angela said.

"I never said you had to wait for me."

She avoided eye contact. She knew too well what Angela was waiting for but she wasn't sure she wanted to talk about it. The previous night had been special. Booth had been really sweet to her and she had had a wonderful time with him but she wasn't sure if she wanted Angela to know. She felt like keeping this to herself. She wanted it to be her little secret. She hadn't planned on telling Angela that Booth had taken her out but it had slipped out. She guess she would now have to deal with her mistake.

"So what happened last night?"

"Nothing happened."

"But you said that Booth took you out. What did you guys do?"

"Nothing special. He took me the restaurant and then he dragged me to the movies. That's all."

"Awww how cute. What movie did you go see?"

"Does it really matter?"

Angela shrugged.

"Did he sleep over?" Angela asked, a wicked grin on her face.

"Yes but only because you asked him to."

Angela gave her an innocent expression.

"Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about." Brennan replied, laughing.

"I just didn't want anything to happen to you. I know how tough it must have been for you to hear what Booth told you. I'm really sorry. How are you feeling?"

"I don't know. I always thought that when I would learn that they had found my parents' remains I would be devastated, that I would completely lose it. But now, I don't know. I feel sad but knowing that Booth is working on the case makes me feel better. I guess having someone I know and trust on the case is what helps me deal with it. I wouldn't have felt as comfortable with the whole thing if strangers would have been working on this case. Do you know what I mean?"

Angela nodded.

"Yes I do and I know Booth won't rest until he finds the answers to all of your questions. How did your brother react when he found out?"

"That's the weird part. He didn't really react. He simply stared past Booth and I."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing."

Angela was about to say something when she was interrupted by knocks on Brennan's door. The two friends turned around.

"Well I'm gonna leave the two of you alone." Angela said.

Booth stepped aside to let Angela out of the office then walked in himself. Brennan told him to close the door. She didn't want to be bothered by an Angela eavesdropping or someone else barging in her office. Booth chuckled and walked up to her desk. He pushed aside some of the files crowding her desk and sat on now cleared corner.

Brennan could feel his eyes on her.

"Would you quit staring at me?" she asked him, nicely.

"No can do. You're too beautiful."

Brennan felt herself blush.

"I had fun last night." Booth told her.

She didn't look up. She pretended to be concentrating on the file in her hands. She didn't know what to tell him. She had fun too last night and she was glad that he had slept over, with her, in her room, heck in her bed, but she didn't want to tell him that. Telling him that would only acknowledge the fact that she was slowly falling in love with Booth and she didn't want that.

"Any new leads?" she asked him, changing the subject.

Booth sighed quietly before answering her. Why did she always change the subject when it came to personal matters?

"No but I'm trying to get hold of the detective who was investigating your parents' death fifteen years ago. Maybe he would have some information, some thoughts, or basically anything that I don't have. You wouldn't happen to remember his name, would you?"

"It was Howard, Hawthorne... something like that. I don't really remember."

"Thanks Bones, that helps a lot." He replied, sarcastically.

"Sorry. I just kinda blocked that episode out of my mind. I don't really remember much about the day when I got home and saw the police cars in front of my house, just parked there like they were waiting for someone to arrive."

"Must have been awful for you."

Brennan nodded.

"What are you working on?" Booth asked her.

"Nothing much. The local police brought in some bones yesterday. I'm off to analyze them, see what I can find out. They have no clue where they come from or who they belong to."

"Sounds like you've got work to do. I better be off then."

"How about you? What are your plans for today?"

"Well Hodgins called me and said he wanted to see me. New development on your parents' bones, I guess. Then I'll be heading back to my office. My boss wants to go over some cases with me or something like that. I'm not sure. He didn't tell me much. Do you want me to pick you up after work?"

"I can't. I'm meeting Russ tonight. He said that he needed to talk to me about something."

Booth laughed nervously.

"I'll see you later then."

Booth got up and was walking towards the door when the sound of her voice stopped him.

"Will you be at my apartment when I come home?"

Booth smiled before he turned around. He hadn't wanted her to see how her question had affected him. When he turned to face her, his face was serious.

"Only if you want me to be there."

"I do."

"What time are you planning on getting back to your house?"

"I don't know. Probably around seven or eight."

"Well I'm not waiting around for you in the hallway." He replied, smiling.

Brennan grabbed her purse and looked for her keys. When she finally found them, she took the one for her apartment off her key chain and threw it at Booth. He caught it.

"There. This way you'll be able to wait for me inside. Just don't forget to give it back to me tonight."

Brennan then turned her attention back to her file and Booth left her office. She never saw the huge smile that had been lighting his features.

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"What have you got for me Hodgins?" Booth asked the squint as he walked up to him.

"I analyzed the bones Brennan sent me the other day and found something quite interesting."

"What?"

"The bones were once buried."

"What do you mean the bones were once buried?"

Hodgins roller his eyes. Even though they had been working together for two years now, the two men still didn't get along. While Booth had the courtesy of at least being polite and showing respect, Hodgins didn't bother. As Hodgins roller his eyes, Booth took a deep breath.

Stay calm, he told himself.

"I found some soil residue on the bones, besides the plastic bag ones. So my theory is that the killer, who ever it is, buried the bones for a number of years and then unburied them, put them in a garbage bag and tossed it in the forest where you found them."

"But why would the killer do that?"

"That's for you to figure out." Hodgins replied as he walked away from Booth.

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She walked in the restaurant where she was supposed to be meeting her brother. She looked around for him but couldn't see him anywhere. Was he always this late? She was supposed to be meeting him at six. It was 6:10. She had been caught up in her work and she hadn't realized the time. She was never late. This was a first for her. Obviously her brother wasn't as punctual as she was.

He came running in around six twenty. He spotted his sister at a table and joined her. He apologized for being late, asked her how long she had been waiting for him and then asked if she was ready to order. He was starving.

"So why are you late?" she asked him after giving the waiter their orders.

"Something came up. I'm really sorry I was late though."

Silence fell between them. An awkward silence. They hadn't been together in fifteen years, there should have been a lot of stuff to talk about but somehow neither of them could find something to say.

"Maybe we should talk." Russ said, after what seemed like an eternity. "Listening to other people's conversation isn't the funniest thing in the world."

Temperance agreed.

"You said there was something you wanted to tell me about." She told her brother.

Russ nodded but instead asked her to tell him about her. What had she been doing these last fifteen years? Tempe knew he was stalling for time but she decided to answer his questions anyway. They talked about her work, her friends, her dull life. Russ mentioned Booth, asked her what he was to her. Tempe waved off the question and changed the subject. Russ had asked her again, not wanting to let go, and she had been forced to answer. She told him that he had been her partner for two years, that they didn't like each other at the beginning but ended getting along after a year or so, that he was a really good friend and that was all there was to it. Russ smiled at that last part but didn't say anything.

"How about you? What have you been doing?"

Russ told him about how he moved to California after the police had interviewed him, that he had settled in LA first but then had moved up to Berkeley. He told her he worked in a daycare and loved every minute of it, even though the kids could be a pain sometimes. He told her about Lucy, her ex-wife, how she had died recently and how it had affected him. Tempe just listened. She never stopped him to ask him questions like he had done. She discovered a side of her personality she didn't even know she had. She could be a talented listener when she put herself to it.

"It was harder on the kids though." Russ said.

"You have kids!"

The waiter took that particular moment to hand them their plates. They ate quietly for a while until Russ finally decided to answer her question.

"I have four, two girls and two boys. They are my life."

"How old are they?"

She didn't know why but she was having trouble picturing her brother as a father. Then memories of a particular Christmas flashed in her mind and the words "Christmas for his little sister", that Angela had told her a while ago, echoed in her head. Maybe it wasn't so spectacular that her brother had children.

"Bridget is thirteen, will finish grade 7 soon. She's my big girl, always there to take care of her brothers and sister. She's a really sweet kid. Then there's Corey. He's 9. He's my thrill-seeker, always attempting stunts with his friends, always outside playing sports. He's been playing soccer since he was 4. Really good at it, he is. That's his goal in life, to become a professional soccer player. He has the talent for it. Then there are the twins, Nathan and Elena. They are five, almost six. They're my angels. They never get in trouble, they are always quiet, always drawing or making crafty stuff. They're my artists."

Temperance found herself smiling as her brother told her about his kids. They seemed to be really sweet kids and she told him so.

"How about you? Do you have any children?" he asked, even though he knew the answer perfectly.

"No. No kids for me."

"Why not?"

"I don't want any."

"That's not normal for a woman."

"Yeah well I'm not your regular type of woman." She replied, forcing a smile.

They ate in silence for a little while. Russ was trying to figure out how he could ask his sister to take his children for the summer, knowing fully well by now that the idea of having children around her wasn't part of her plans for the future.

They finished their meal and ordered dessert and coffee. They had changed the subject of children and had begun to talk about the investigation of Lucy's death. By the time their dessert and their coffee arrived, Russ was ready to ask her about the favor.

"After Lucy's death, obviously, I got custody of the kids. But only being a daycare worker, I don't make a lot of money. I had to take up another job for the summer. This is the reason why I called you."

"To tell me you'd have to work two jobs?"

"No. Since I will be working two jobs, I won't be home very often. I already work from 8:00 to 5:00 at the day care and the other job would probably fill my evenings and week-ends. I felt bad sending the kids to a summer camp for the whole summer since they wouldn't even a chance to visit and I didn't want Bridget to have to babysit her little brothers and sister the whole summer either. I was just wondering if you could take them, just for the summer. Two months isn't that long. That way you would get a chance to know them better and they'd get the chance to know you too. What do you say?"

Temperance was speechless. She didn't know what to say. Was there even something to say? Her? Take care of children? What about her work? Wasn't Russ thinking about that? She had to work too. What would the kids be doing while she was at work?

"I know what you're thinking." Russ said. "Don't worry. I have everything figured out. I was going to send them to a daytime summer camp. That way you'd be able to go to work without having to worry about the kids being home alone. I'll pay for the camp, you don't have to worry about that. So, what do you say?"

Temperance looked up at her brother. He was giving her his puppy eyes, just like Booth did. She started to feel bad. If she said no, she knew what would happen. His brother wouldn't be able to take care of the kids and there was a chance they could get taken away from him. He'd work two jobs so he wouldn't be home and neighbors were bound to call social services. Bridget had just turned 13 but she wasn't old enough to take care of three young children every day, almost 24 hours a day.

Russ was still waiting for an answer. She opened her mouth to give it to him.


	8. Chapter 8 New Information

Brennan sighed as she walked in her office. She hadn't slept well even though Booth had been there with her. She had told him about what had happened at dinner with her brother but he hadn't been much help. He had only told her that it was up to her to decide what she wanted to do but that no matter what her decision would be, he would be there for her. Knowing that he would support her no matter what had comforted her a little bit but she still didn't know what to do.

She turned on her computer to check her e-mails, as she did every morning. As she waited she mentally went over her to-do list for today. There were still some unknown soldiers from World War II to identify, she was bound to have to assist a few new anthropologists in their examinations and she would also have a bit of time to work on her book.

She logged on the Internet and checked her e-mails. She had none.

She got up and was about to leave her office when she bumped into Angela.

"Hey Sweetie, how are you? You look tired." Her friend said.

"I didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh! Did you and Booth...?"

"Ange! No!"

"Then what's wrong?"

Brennan turned around and went to sit on her couch. Angela followed her and Brennan told her everything her brother had said at dinner the night before. Angela listened quietly, never once interrupting her. She only nodded from time to time like to tell her friend that she was still listening.

"So basically I don't know what to do. What would you do if you were in my shoes?"

"I'd give it a try."

"I can't take care of four children!"

"Have you ever tried?"

Brennan said no.

"Then try it. You never know, it might work out. Besides it's only for two months and Booth is going to be there. He knows what to do."

"But my apartment is way too small. How on Earth am I supposed to find space for all of them?"

"Hmmm, this could be tricky but I'm sure you can work something out. You have a pull out couch. You and Booth can sleep there while the kids take your bedroom. Maybe some days you could over to Booth's place. There's more space, you too would have a room and the kids could sleep in Parker's empty one."

"You talk like Booth and I are a couple."

"That's because you are."

"No we're not."

"Really? Then tell me. Do you many coworkers who sleep over at one's apartment for two days in a row, in the same bed, if I might add?"

She had to agree with Angela. It wasn't that common but it had only been for two days. Booth probably wouldn't sleep over tonight. She felt her heart ache at that thought. No she couldn't feel this way just because Booth was not sleeping over. She had to pull herself together.

She changed the subject back to her brother.

"What should I do?"

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Booth walked in his office looking rather tired. Bones hadn't slept well the night before and neither had he. He had tried to calm her down, to make her relax. He had given her a small massage but he had been so tired that it hadn't lasted long. She woke him up every time she had turned around in the bed and after a couple of hours of tossing and turning, he had finally grabbed her, had put his left arm around her and had held her captive in his arms for the rest of the night. She had finally fallen asleep for good around 3:00 am, three hours before they had to wake up.

He was just sitting down at his desk when his phone rang.

"Agent Booth."

"Hi Agent Booth. I'm glad I was finally able to reach you. Sorry to be calling so early in the morning. I'm William Johnson, from the Westminster Police. I heard that you were looking for the cop investigating James's and Paulina Brennan's disappearance."

"Yes, as a matter of fact I was." Booth replied.

"I was the one who investigated it. I'm retired now. Maybe I could come over to your office some time today?"

"Sure, that would be great. Shall we say around 10:00?"

William Johnson agreed.

After they hung up, Booth laughed. Bones had said that the cop had been named Howard or Hawthorne. She had been far from Johnson.

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William Johnson knocked on Booth's door at exactly 10:00. Booth invited him in and the two men shook hands. They both sat down in the respective chairs. Johnson placed a file on the desk and opened it. Booth looked up at it and saw the same two pictures that were in his own files but also pictures of other people he didn't know. Family members, probably.

"I interviewed a lot of people back then, neighbors, friends, coworkers, and they all said the same thing. James and Paulina Brennan were extraordinary people, always ready to help and so kind. They said that the Brennans liked to be spontaneous and would often leave for a couple of days. I told all of them that their car had been found in a remote area and that they were nowhere to be seen. They were all surprised by this piece of information.

Dr. James Brennan was a really well-known university professor. His students loved him and were really affected by his death. Paulina worked in a hospital, in the children's ward, as a nurse. The children absolutely adored her, there were no denying that."

"As you might know now, the remains of Mr. And Mrs Brennan had been discovered in a wood just outside of Westminster. Is it possible that a parent of one of her patients' could have murdered her out of jealousy?" Booth asked.

"I hardly doubt that."

"Which university did Dr. Brennan work for?"

"He was a law professor at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore."

"And how about Mrs Brennan? Which hospital did she work in?"

"She worked from the Carroll County General Hospital, in Westminster, but I don't see how this is relevant to the case. I already told you that none of the parents of her patients could have killed her."

"This is just for general information, that's all. What else did you find out?"

William Johnson went on telling him everything that he had learned and the more Booth listened to the man, the more he got frustrated. Everything that Johnson was telling him, except maybe for a few details here an there, he already knew. This was going nowhere.

There were only two people that Johnson had found suspicious.

"They acted really weird before and during their interview."

"Got any names?" Booth asked, taking a pen and his notepad.

"Yes. A woman named Brenda Prescott and a man named Don Edwards."

"I've heard of Brenda Prescott. She was the Brennan kids' nanny."

"Yes."

"Tell me about her first."

"If you ask me, she was the weirdest one of all. She seemed so calm, didn't break down when we told her that we had found the Brennans' car and that the Brennans had disappeared. We were able to reach her four days after their car had been found. She said that she had gone out of state for a while to visit her sister and that she had just come home. I told her that I needed to ask her some questions and she said that she would gladly answer them. I asked her if I could go over to her place later in the afternoon and she told me that it would be impossible. She was going out for some errands but if I wanted to she could stop by the police station and answer the questions there. I didn't think much at the time and I agreed. She came over, I asked her a few questions, she answered them honestly and then she left."

"What questions did you ask her?"

"Well you know the drill, Agent Booth. I asked her where she was the night the Brennans disappeared. She told me that she had been home. She also mentioned that the Brennans had stopped by her place, they had talked for a while but then they had left. When I asked her what time she said that it was around 1:00 am in the morning. I asked her what they talked about and she replied that they had mostly talked about the past, that the Brennans had finally explained to her why they had shut her completely out of their lives. They reminisced, drank a little bit then the Brennans decided that it was late and that they should get going."

"That's it?"

"That's all she said to me."

"What about the other guy?"

"Don Edwards worked with Paulina in the hospital. He was the pediatrician in the hospital. He admitted to being insanely in love with Paulina but that it was unrequited."

"What was so weird about him?"

"He had the same reaction as Ms. Prescott. He didn't cry, didn't get emotional, nothing. He answered the questions in a matter-of-fact tone and left."

This Don Edwards was reminding Booth of someone.

"Where was he the night of the disappearance?"

"He said he was working."

"Did the story check out?"

"Not really. He had worked, yes, but his shift ended around midnight. And if we take into consideration that the Brennans disappeared after they left Brenda Prescott's house, then he wasn't at work."

Booth rubbed the side of his head. This was getting so complicated.

"Brenda Prescott and Don Edwards, are they sill alive?"

"I'm pretty sure they are. Don Edwards and Brenda Prescott were the same age. They would only be 60 years old today. It's worth a shot but I doubt you'll learn something new if you interview them."

"Yeah well it's worth the shot."

Booth thanked the retired cop for all of his information. Johnson got up, the men shook hands once again, and the cop left the office.

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When Brennan walked in her apartment she was surprised to find Booth already in the kitchen, making supper.

"How did you get in?" she asked him.

"I made myself a key." He replied, uncomfortable.

He felt just like a kid who had been caught sneaking cookies into his room when he knew he wasn't aloud cookies after bedtime.

"Oh." Brennan replied, calmly.

"You don't mind?" he asked her, relieved and a bit surprised.

"Not really." She replied. "What are you making?"

"Well it's not much. It's only chicken, scalloped potatoes and peas."

"Thank you Booth, that's pretty sweet of you. How long before it's ready?"

"I'd say another twenty minutes maybe."

"Fine. I'm going to take a bath."

Brennan left for the bathroom. Booth heard the water running and smiled. He could get used to living with her. When she returned, twenty minutes later, Booth was putting down the plates on the table.

"Perfect timing, Bones." He told her as she sat down.

Booth sat down beside her and they both started eating. They were both starved so they ate silently for a couple of minutes.

"I called my brother today." Brennan finally said.

"And?"

"I told him I'd take his kids for the summer."

"Honey that's great!"

He sounded genuinely happy about it and it made her feel better. She had had second thoughts on the whole thing after calling her brother but now she knew for sure that Booth would keep his promise and be there for her. She didn't think she'd be able to do this alone.

"I have a new lead in my investigation." He told her.

"Really?"

Her heart was racing and she wasn't sure if she was still hungry. She would get the weird feeling in stomach whenever Booth would mention her parents' case. She pushed her plate away from her.

"Yes. The cop who investigated in your parents' disappearance back in Westminster stopped by today. He gave me all of the information that he had managed to gather. You wouldn't happen to know a man named Don Edwards, would you?"

"No, not that I can remember. Why? Who is he?"

"He was a pediatrician at your mom's hospital. Apparently he was madly in love with her."

"Never heard of him."

"Well I managed to track him down. Him and Brenda Prescott."

He watched out for her reaction. She had none.

"Why do you want to interview Brenda?"

"Her and Don Edwards are the only people alive today who might have a connection with your parents' murder. Brenda Prescott told investigators that your parents visited her the night they disappeared."

"Brenda is incapable of killing anyone."

"Maybe so but I still need to interview her."

"Let me come."

"No. Do I need to remember that you have been kicked out of the investigation?" he asked.

Brennan didn't fight it. She knew this was an argument she wasn't going to win. Booth smiled at her and pushed her plate back towards her.


	9. Chapter 9 Over the Night

Chapter 9 – Over the Night

1 :13 a.m.

A gunshot.

A woman slowly backing up towards a wall, her right arm covering her eyes and her left one stretched in front of her like she is trying to protect herself.

The sound of two people breathing steadily, asleep.

* * *

_I felt like being mean! Hopefully you guys won't hate me TOO much. And I hope my description of the woman was clear enough._


	10. Chapter 10 Brenda Prescott

AN: Of course I wasn't going to let you guys wait for ever for the next chapter. Here it is! By the way, for those who saw last night's episode (The Man on the Fairway), so for the ones who saw the names of Tempe's parents, I am not going to change the names in my story. So they will still be named James and Paulina and not Matt and... I didn't see her mother's name. Just wanted to let you know and have fun reading! By the way, for Chapter 9, it will explain itself at the end of the story.

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Booth parked his SUV in the driveway of 44 White Street a little after eleven. As he got out, Booth examined his surroundings. He now remembered the house pretty well. It was small and white. There was a garden in front of it and a huge tree on the front lawn, so huge that the sun was blocked. It casted his enormous shadow over the driveway.

Booth slowly walked up the driveway. Everything was quiet and the house looked empty. He climbed the stairs and stepped on the porch. He rang the doorbell and waited. Birds starting chirping. He rang again.

The faint sound of footsteps reached his ears. A few seconds later the door opened. A pale woman with dark circles under her eyes stared back at him. It looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Brenda Prescott?" he asked.

The woman nodded.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth. FBI." Booth said as he flashed his badge. "Can I come in? I have a couple of questions to ask you on James and Paulina Brennan."

At the names of her former employers, Brenda's face changed. She seemed to consider whether or not she would let the Special Agent in. It took her a few seconds to decide but she must have thought that it would be safe because she opened the door a little wider and moved back to let him in. Booth stepped in the house and Brenda closed the door.

The inside was a complete mess. The entrance was cleared but as they stepped in the living room, Booth was amazed at how dirty it was. Glasses and plates were piled on the coffee table in front of the couch, clothes were scattered everywhere across the room and books were spread on the floor.

Booth tried not to step on anything as he made his way to the couch. Brenda didn't seem to notice. She sat in the comforter beside the couch.

"So you wanted to talk to me about James and Paulina?" she asked.

Booth was surprised at her tone of voice. She seemed to be in a hurry to get it over with.

"Yes. I'm the new agent investigating the disappearance of the Brennans. Their remains were discovered a few days ago in a wood just outside of Westminster. The former officer in the investigation mentioned you to me earlier this week and I thought I'd stop by and ask a few questions."

"Alright but I don't know what else to tell you."

"I interviewed Russ and Temperance Brennan a few days ago and they told me their side of the story. They told me you had been their nanny. Is that correct?"

"Yes, up 'til Russ was 15 and little Temperance was 11. They were like my children. I raised them. Paulina loved them but she was too busy with her job to take care of them properly."

"This didn't seem to be the opinion of the children."

"It's my opinion. They might just be denying the fact that their mother was never around because she's dead now and they feel ashamed to be thinking that way."

"It's possible. Mrs Prescott..."

"Ms. Prescott." Brenda interrupted him.

"Sorry. Ms. Prescott, how did you feel after the Brennans told you they wouldn't be needing you anymore?"

"I was sad and I must admit, a little angry too. But, it wasn't my decision so I packed my bags and left. I went to live with a friend until I found this house. I've been living here ever since."

"The day James and Paulina disappeared, they apparently got a call from you. Why is that?"

"I had called a couple of weeks before, begging them to let me come back to live with them. I had talked to Paulina. We talked for maybe an hour or two. She told me she was pregnant and she had doubts on whether or not she would be able to raise her baby on her own. I asked her once again to let me help her. She said she'd think about it."

Brenda paused for a second before she continued.

"I'm guessing she told James about it and that he said that they weren't going to need me, that she would be able to take care of the baby herself. I called about once a week and always spoke to Paulina. We even went out for lunch one day."

"What I want to know is why you called them on the day they disappeared."

Brenda hesitated before answering.

"I had been to the doctor's the previous day and he had given me a prescription for anti-depressants. I was already treated for a sleeping disorder but the doctor said that anti-depressants would work better on me."

"Did you know you suffered from depression?"

"I felt sad but I didn't know why. My reasons for living were Tempe and Russie but I wasn't aloud to see them. I didn't really have a reason for living, you know?"

"Was that the only reason, Ms. Prescott?"

She hesitated once again.

"No."

Booth nodded. He decided to change the subject for now. By going back and forth in the story he was hoping that Brenda would make a mistake, that she would change her information. So far she was doing great, unfortunately for him.

"Temperance and Russ told me that one day they slept over here. When they woke up the next morning, you told them that you couldn't see them anymore, that they belonged with their family. What happened?"

Brenda sighed.

"When I was twelve or thirteen, I got really sick. I had a some sort of infection and the doctors told me that because of that, I wouldn't be able to have children. I never bothered for protection after that whenever I had a lover. The night when Tempe and Russie stayed over, I learned that I was pregnant. I was so happy that I didn't want anybody to know. That's why I shut them off of my life."

Booth told himself that it didn't make any sense but didn't say anything.

"A couple of months later, I lost the baby. I went into false labor at only five months pregnant and the baby wasn't old enough to survive."

"That's what started your depression."

"Yes."

Booth nodded again. He wrote something down on the notepad he had taken out at the beginning of the interview then looked back at Brenda.

"You never finished telling me why you had called the Brennans the day they disappeared."

"I actually called to talk to Paulina but James was the one who picked up. I asked for his wife but he told me that she couldn't come to the phone at the moment. He told me to stop calling, that Paulina was capable of taking care of her baby and that they would be fine. I guess he heard me sobbing because he apologized and told me that after Paulina's doctor appointment, they would stop by my place."

The rest Booth knew and he told her so. She wouldn't need to tell him what happened.

"One last question, Ms. Prescott. You wouldn't happen to know a man named Don Edwards, would you?"

"Don and I were lovers once. Not long, just for a couple of months. But I haven't seen him in years."

"So you knew he was in love with Paulina?"

"Yes. She mentioned it to me a few times. He got over her, I guess."

"Do you think he would be capable of murder?"

"I hardly doubt it. Don was the sweetest person you could find."

"Thank you." Booth said as he got up.

Then, suddenly, his conversation with Hodgins from two days before came back to him.

"I found some soil residue on the bones, besides the plastic bag ones... the killer, who ever it is, buried the bones... and then unburied them." Hodgins had said.

Then, out of gut feeling, he asked one more question to Brenda.

"Would you mind giving me a tour of your house?"

Brenda looked like she was going to say no but instead she agreed. Booth followed her around the house. They went upstairs first and she showed him the bathroom, then the bedroom which she called Tempe and Russ' room. As Booth stepped in that room, a cold chill ran down his spine without him knowing why. The room was colder than the rest of the house. He couldn't understand why. There seemed to be no air conditioning in the house, the windows were closed and it was pretty warm outside.

He didn't have time to wonder more because Brenda was ushering him back into the hallway and into the master bedroom. This room was a little bit more warmer, a soft breeze came in through the open windows. There were no more rooms upstairs so they went back downstairs. She stopped by a door, told him that down the stairs was the basement but it was pretty much only a cold storage room and a small living room, nothing interesting.

She then brought him to the kitchen. As Booth looked around, something in the backyard caught his attention. At the far back of the yard Booth could see a patch of soil with no grass on it. Someone had dig her a hole there before. He turned to Brenda who was looking at him quizzically.

"Did you bury something in your backyard, Ms. Prescott?"

He thought he had seen some kind of expression pass over her face but it hadn't lasted long and he wondered if his imagination wasn't playing tricks on him.

"My dog died a couple of weeks ago. He was very old. He got sick over the winter and never recovered. I didn't know what to do with him so I buried him in the backyard."

Booth nodded but he wasn't entirely convinced. Something told him that the woman was lying. She had avoided eye contact when she had answered him.

Booth thanked the woman for her time and her tour and said that he should get on his way. Brenda walked him back to the door.

On his way, a picture frame caught his attention. On the picture was Brenda sitting on a chair, a dog on her lap. He felt his heart drop. So it had been true.

Booth thanked her once again and walked to his SUV. Brenda watched him leave and once he was out of sight, she closed the door. She sighed deeply and went up to her room. She walked to the bathroom, opened the cabinet and took out a bottle of aspirin. She had a headache. She took two then went to lie down on her bed.


	11. Chapter 11 The Dead End

Disclaimer: I have to admit that I used a line from a Friends episode in this chapter, the "stewing in your own filth" answer. I just found it so funny, I had to put it in here.

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Booth turned into the parking lot of Brennan's apartment building feeling rather tired, confused and depressed. He didn't know what to think anymore. Brenda had seemed perfectly normal and he couldn't see why Johnson had had any reasons to doubt her story fifteen years ago. Booth had managed to track down Don Edwards but when he had called his place, his wife had told him that Edwards was out of the country for a few more weeks and would only be back in August. Booth thanked her and had hung up. He didn't have time to wait for Edwards. He found it doubtful that this had been a passionate crime. There weren't any signs of injuries causing death present on the bones which also made it harder for his squint team to determine a cause of death.

Booth turned off the ignition after parking beside Tempe's currently empty parking space and got out of his vehicle. He had a feeling he would never find out what had happened to his partner's parents. He sighed at that thought. He had wanted so much to be the one who would found these answers. He knew she was counting on him. What was he going to do when he would have to tell her that he'd hit a wall, that he didn't know who killed her parents and why and that there was a huge possibility that they would probably never know?

He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed he had reached his destination. He took out his keys, unlocked the door and stepped in. Closing the door behind him, he took off his shoes and placed on the rug beside the door. He walked to the living room, dropped himself on the couch and closed his eyes.

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Temperance wasn't surprised to find her door unlock as she stepped in her apartment, a little after six. She was tired, her back hurt from standing up all day and she had a pounding headache. She knew what she would do. She would take a bath then would talk Booth into giving her a massage. The memory of the massage he had given her two days ago came back to her. He had been so gentle and even if it hadn't relaxed her completely, it had felt rather nice. Nicer than she thought it was going to be.

As she walked in the living room she noticed Booth asleep on her couch. She stared at him for a few seconds, observing how cute and peaceful he looked when he slept, then walked off to the bathroom.

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Booth woke up to the sound of the water running.

She must be here. He thought to himself.

He rubbed the sleep from his face, yawned then sat up. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

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From the bathroom, Tempe could hear the TV. Booth was apparently watching the news. She sunk lower in her bath, closed her eyes and tried to relax.

She didn't know how long she had been there but when she opened her eyes, the water was cold and Booth had apparently turned off the TV. She rarely fell asleep while taking a bath and she took that as a sign that maybe she was more tired than she thought. She wondered if maybe she didn't need some time off. The thought of that surprised her. Where was that coming from? Taking some time off had never really crossed her mind since... well... she couldn't remember. Maybe she needed some though. She'd talk to Booth about it. Maybe they could go on a vacation somewhere. That thought surprised her even more. She groaned. What was Booth doing to her?

As the bathtub emptied itself, Temperance dried herself off, wrap her towel around her and walked out of the bathroom. Everything was silent in the apartment. She wondered if Booth hadn't left. She went to her room, put on some comfy clothes then walked to the kitchen. Booth was nowhere to be seen. Something caught her attention on the counter. It was a note.

Gone to my place to get some clothes. I'll bring back dinner. Hopefully you didn't drown in your bath!

She smiled. Booth was gone to get some clothes which meant he would be sleeping over that night again and possibly for the nights to come. She took the note and threw it in the garbage, suddenly fighting the urge to keep the note he had written her.

"Stop it, Brennan, you are not thirteen anymore!"

Then again, at thirteen, she hadn't been like that.

She heard the keys outside her door. She knew it was him and she was surprised that he had bothered to lock the door. He probably just wanted to make sure that nothing could happen to her. He could be so overprotective sometimes. She wondered if he was also like that with Parker.

He came in holding boxes of what looked like Chinese food. She watched as he took off his shoes, pushed them with his feet beside hers on the rug and walked to the kitchen.

A smile spread over his face when he saw her.

"Hey! You're finally done stewing in your own filth!" he told her, teasingly.

"What?" she replied, letting out a small laugh.

She hadn't understand a word he had just said.

"Sorry." Booth replied as he put the boxes of food on the counter. "I've never really been into bathes before. I always get the sensation that I'm stewing in my own filth when I'm in there."

"I guess it's one way to look at it."

"Are you hungry?"

"I'm starved."

Booth smiled. He pointed to the Chinese food laying on the counter. Temperance took out two plates while Booth opened the drawer, took out two forks, and set them on the table. Temperance put the plates down and the two of them sat down.

She was surprised when Booth asked her how her day had gone but she nevertheless went on telling him what she had done. He was stalling for time. She knew that he had gone to see Brenda today but she didn't know what had happened. She would probably want to know and he didn't know what to tell her.

But the stalling didn't last long. Tempe hadn't done much that day and Booth soon found himself having to answer the question that he dreaded so much. He looked up at her and saw her looking at him expectantly. He told her about his conversation with Brenda.

"See I told you she wasn't a killer." Brennan said after he was done.

"I never said she was. I only said that I still had to interview her, to get her side of the story. Your parents went over to her place the night they disappeared, it was worth investigating."

"How was she?"

"She looked... tired."

Brennan nodded. The room fell silent and they both cleared their plates quietly. Once they were done, Brennan looked up at her partner. His mind seemed somewhere else. She asked him what he thought of the whole thing. Her voice brought him back to reality.

"You really want to know what I think?" he asked her.

"Yes."

"I think we'll never find out what happened to your parents."

Booth sighed.

"I think I've hit a dead end."

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Of course, it's TBC. I'm not sure when I will be able to update the story, try checking in around Tuesday. Chapter 12 will probably be up by then.


	12. Chapter 12 The Illumination

_I know I said I was going to post this Tuesday but I just couldn't wait any longer. So here is chapter 12, hope you guys enjoy it and also thank you for the nice reviews. It's just so much fun to read them all and to get some feedback._

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It was dark. Booth was standing in a place he had never seen before. He seemed to be standing on a highway or something, except there was no traffic. He looked at his watch. It was _4:45_ am. What was he doing here? Everything was so dark and he was cold. He shivered. He noticed that he wasn't wearing any coat. He dropped his gaze to the ground. It was covered with snow.

He looked all around to see if he couldn't spot a house or anything that would tell him where he might be. Out of a nowhere he saw something. It was dark but he could make out the shape of what looked like a car. He walked towards the object. He was now close enough to make it out. He had been right. It was a car.

He stepped closer and inspected it. The car was clean, nothing was out place. What was that car doing here in the middle of nowhere? Booth circled it but couldn't find trace of anything. Then he saw them. The footprints, in the snow, only one set. They weren't his. He wasn't making any prints in the snow. He went back to the front of the car. The footprints were walking away from it. They looked rather small. They had to belong to a teenager or a very small woman.

Without knowing why, Booth walked once again to the side of the car, opened the door, sat down and closed the door. It was freezing inside the car. Booth tried to get out but couldn't. He was paralyzed. He heard a sound coming from the back seat. Something was moving around in there. He wanted to turn his head but he knew he wouldn't be able. He was trapped.

He heard the hissing first then felt something wrapping himself around his forehead then going down to his mouth. He looked at the snake, trying to make out what type of snake it was. He couldn't make out a thing. Everything had grown dark around him, darker than it had been a few seconds before.

The snake continued wrapping itself around him. How long _was_ that snake? Booth could hear it hissing his way down.

Suddenly the snake stopped and turned to face him. Its thin tongue slipped out of its mouth before disappearing as quickly as it had came out. They made eye contact. The snaked hissed again before lowering his head towards Booth and biting him in the arm.

It didn't take long before Booth felt his whole body going numb. Just before he blacked out, a woman appeared a couple of feet away from the car and stared at him.

* * *

Booth sat up abruptly in the bed. The sun was flooding in through the shut drapes. He felt something stir beside him and he was happy when Temperance opened to her eyes to look at him.

"What?" she asked him, half-asleep.

"I think I know what happened to your parents."

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_Evil laughter See you Tuesday:-)_


	13. Chapter 13 The Moment of Truth

Sorry about the last chapter, I really felt like being mean! ;-) So this is what you guys have all been waiting for... the moment of the truth! (Wait that's the name of the chapter! lol). Anyway have fun reading and don't forget to review.

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Brenda opened the door. She had seen the familiar SUV pull up in her driveway. Why was the FBI agent coming back? She thought that he had asked all of his questions and she was pretty sure she had answered them right. The doorbell had rung and she had gone to open the door. She was surprised to see that Booth wasn't alone. A tall woman stood beside him. She looked at her carefully. The woman looked familiar. That hair, these eyes, she had definetely seen this woman somewhere.

"Ms Prescott, there are a few more questions that I need to ask you. No need to introduce you to this pretty lady. You must remember Temperance?"

Brenda's eyes grew wide. Temperance?

"Temperance?" she whispered.

Tempe nodded. Water filled her old nanny's eyes and her first reaction was to reach out and hug her but one look from Booth told her it wasn't a good idea. Booth asked the old woman if they could come in. They stepped in the house and Temperance closed the door behind them.

Brenda led them into the dinning room this time. Booth noticed that she had cleaned up since his last visit. The three of them sat down at the table, Temperance and Booth on one side and Brenda across from them. Brenda asked them if they wanted anything, something to eat or drink, but Booth declined for the both of them. He would only ask a few more questions to ask her then they would leave. It wouldn't take more than fifteen minutes. Brenda agreed.

"I told you everything I know. I really don't know what else to tell you, Agent Booth."

"All I want you to tell me is how it happened."

Brenda didn't answer.

The solution to this murder investigation had come to him in a dream. Even though he didn't really believe in dream interpretations, that dream had just made sense. Temperance hadn't agreed with him, she had told him so but Booth thought the opposite. The car, the woman, the footprints and the snake gave a clear image of what had happened the night James and Paulina disappeared, just like the pieces of a puzzle coming together to form a nice scenery.

James and Paulina had died of some sort of poisoning. Booth had been tempted to consider Don Edwards as the murder but he had changed his mind. Yes, Edwards could have been capable of killing James and Paulina, he had had access to drugs from the hospital but something in the back of his mind told him that it wasn't Edwards. First of all because the murder didn't seem to have been planned. He didn't know why he thought this, he had been just going with his gut feeling. Second of all, there had been a woman in his dream and this was clearly a "womanly" crime.

He had seen it in his job pretty often. Men were more violent. They were mostly guilty of passionate crimes, using guns or knives as their weapon of choice. They attacked viciously, they made damages to the bodies. Women's crimes, for the most part, were "gentle" crimes. They rarely ever hit their victim behind the head with a hammer. Strangulation, poisoning and even drowning were their common way of killing their victims. Booth had also seen this in suicide cases. Women preferred taking pills while men preferred shooting or hanging themselves. There had been no marks on the body that suggested how the Brennans had died and that was what had caused Booth to believe that it had been a womanly crime.

The snake in his dream had symbolized the method the woman had chosen to kill her victims: poison. And the closer Booth had gotten from Westminster, the more sure he had gotten about his assumptions. There was only one woman in the Brennans' lives who had had both the motive and the opportunity to kill Temperance's parents. Her name was Brenda Prescott.

"Ms. Prescott, how did it happen? Did you plan it? Tell me. I don't know what to think anymore and neither does Temperance. She has the right to know what happened to her parents. If you don't want to do it for me, do it at least for her."

"I don't know what to tell you."

"How did it happen?" Booth insisted.

There was a couple of seconds of silence during which Temperance turned to her partner. Her look told him that she had told him so. Brenda wasn't guilty of murder. But Booth waited.

"I didn't plan to do it."

Temperance head snapped towards Brenda. She felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. It couldn't be, it was impossible.

"It just happened that way."

Booth stayed silent. He could feel Temperance's eyes on him but he didn't turn to look at her. He needed Brenda to tell him what had happened, for Temperance's sake and his own. Too many questions were unanswered. Now was the chance to get these answers.

"Tell me how it happened."

Brenda took a deep breath.

"James and Paulina stopped by my house. They knew I wasn't feeling well. I had called them earlier. James told me on the phone not to leave the house, that they just had to go to the doctor's office for a quick visit and then they would be over. I asked them to pick up my medication on their way. They did. When they arrived I opened the door. We went into the living room, sat down and we started talking."

Booth turned to his partner and locked eyes with her.

"The thing that caught your attention on your mother's lap, could it have been medication?"

Temperance closed her eyes for a minute and replayed the whole thing in her head. She tried to focus on what her mother was holding. Everything was blurry. She had tried so hard to push this sad event out of her conscience that parts of her memory had been erased.

"Focus Brennan. Try to remember." A voice told her.

She tried even harder to remember. She saw her mom holding something. A plastic bag? Yes. It had been a plastic bag. Suddenly her eyes shot open.

"I remember. My mom was holding a plastic bag and there were bottles of pills inside."

"They were anti-depressants." Brenda added. "I had seen a doctor after I lost my baby and he said that I suffered from depression. He gave me a prescription and told me to get the medication as soon as possible. But I didn't want medication."

She stopped for a second or two. She looked tired, Brennan noticed. She didn't remember her nanny like this. The last time she had seen her, she didn't have those dark circles under her eyes, she hadn't been this skinny and fragile, and she didn't have this irrational spark in her eye.

"I gave them a drink and we got to talking. They asked me how I was doing, asked me what the doctors had said and asked me how I was holding up. Paulina was nice. She sat down with me and comforted me when I started crying. We talked 'til the wee hours of the morning. It was maybe 1:00 or 2:00 when they finally decided that I should get some sleep. It was late, both of them were tired. Also, James didn't like to drive after having a couple of drinks, I knew it, so I offered them a room for the night. They accepted. I gave them the guest room upstairs, Tempe's room. I never told them that it had been her room though. They didn't need to know.

They were getting ready to head to bed when it happened. The voice spoke to me. It told me to take them out of the way, that it was the only way to get my children back. Paulina and James had a weird habit: they couldn't fall asleep unless they had had a glass of water."

"So you slipped something in their water?"

"Yes. Sleeping pills. I had some in my bathroom cabinet and I went to get some while they were getting ready for bed. I crushed a few of them and mixed it in the water."

"How many did you put?"

"A few. Maybe three or four in each. Maybe more. I don't remember."

"Did you mix them with anything else?"

Booth wasn't a doctor but he hardly doubted that three or four sleeping pills diluted in water would be enough to kill a person.

Brenda nodded slowly.

"Yes but I can't remember what else."

Booth was pretty sure she was lying but he didn't press it. There would be plenty of time to get her to confess what else she had put in the water. Booth motioned to her to continue.

"I wanted to make sure they would fall asleep and wouldn't wake up. I heard them coming down the stairs. I ran the water and pretended to be filling their glasses but really I was cleaning up a bit so they wouldn't see the residue of the sleeping pills on the counter. When they came in, I handed them their glasses.

James thought the water looked funny since it was all white but I told him I had a sulfur problem and that lately my water was like that. It seemed to convince him and he drank it anyway. So did Paulina."

Booth could hear Temperance sniffling. He knew she was crying and as much as he wanted to comfort her at the moment, he needed to focus completely on Brenda's confession.

"They went up to their room and fell asleep immediately. I waited a while downstairs. An hour, maybe two, to make sure they were really asleep. Then I went back to the kitchen, grabbed two plastic bags out of the pantry and walked upstairs.

The moon was shining inside the room. I remember like it was yesterday. I could see them lying there. They hadn't bothered to get under the covers. They must have fallen asleep as soon as they had hit the bed. I slowly walked up to them. I sat down beside James. He didn't move. Then I noticed that his chest wasn't moving. I checked his pulse and there was no heartbeat. I went over to check on Paulina. Same thing. I knew they were dead and I felt relieved.

Booth felt himself shiver. He remembered the cold room upstairs. James and Paulina had been died in there. He didn't believe in ghosts but that room had been way too cold.

"I took the keys out of James' pocket. I went to the master bathroom and I took some gloves out of the cabinet. I tied my hair, went in my room to change, put on the latex gloves and got out of the house. I drove the car to a semi-remote area. There was a lake there and I threw the keys in it. Then I walked back home. I arrived around 5:00 am. Nobody saw me."

"What did you do with the bodies, Ms. Prescott?"

"I kept them." She answered somewhat proudly. "I put them in my basement in the cold storage. I locked the door and hid the keys."

"How long did you keep the bodies?"

"In my house? About three years. Then one night, I saw Paulina and James standing in front of me. I got scared and ran down to the basement. I unlocked the door, grabbed what was left of them and went outside. I dug a hole in the ground and buried them.

After the night they died, I had trouble sleeping. My doctor gave me stronger sleeping pills but I didn't take them. Sometimes I would spend days not sleeping."

"Did you see Paulina and James often?" Booth asked.

He was beginning to see that this woman wasn't quite right in the head and shivers ran down his spine once again as he thought for the second time about the bedroom above his head. Brenda had a couple of screws lose in there, he thought to himself. Who would be able to keep the bodies of two people in their basement for three years?

"Every night they would come in my room. Sometimes I would talk with Paulina. Other times she would just glare at me. James never talked. He stood silently in the corner of my room and waited until Paulina and I were done talking."

Booth turned to look at his friend. She was wearing a disgusted look on her face. He could see in her eyes that she simply wanted to reach over to Brenda and strangle her. Booth dropped his hand on her lap and gave it a squeeze. He heard her breath stop for a split second but he didn't remove his hand.

"Why did you decide to move the bodies, Ms. Prescott?"

"One night, Paulina came to me. She was alone and she was angry. Her hair was on fire and I could see her eyes sparkling with anger. I got scared. I asked her to leave me alone. She simply kept walking towards me. I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a garbage bag and ran outside. I dug out the bones, put them in the plastic bag and tied the opening. I got in my car and drove outside of Westminster. I knew the area. The Brennans lived there for about ten years. They moved when Tempe was just five years old. She probably wouldn't remember the place."

She turned to Temperance but Tempe looked away. She couldn't look at her anymore.

"I threw the bag in the wood and drove back here."

"How come there were no fingerprints on the plastic bag?"

"I wore gloves. Always. From the day of the murder until I actually moved the body. I felt dirty. I thought that wearing gloves would protect me from the dirt. The doctors who followed me just thought I had an obsessive-compulsive behavior."

"I'm just curious about something. When was the last time Paulina and James visited you?"

"The night before yesterday. Paulina was angry, angrier than she had ever been. She really looked like she was going to kill me."

Booth remembered the pale woman who had answered the door the previous day. She had looked really tired, even more tired than she looked at that particular moment.

"Ms. Prescott, would you mind if we took a quick look in your kitchen?" Booth asked.

Brenda nodded and showed them the way. Booth led Tempe into the kitchen.

"Look for the garbage bags." He whispered to her.

Brennan nodded.

They searched for about five minutes and Booth finally found them in the pantry. He called his partner over and asked her if this could have been the garbage bags that was used to carry the bones.

"Yes. It's the same type of bag."

Booth nodded and walked out the kitchen.

As he walked in the dinning room, Brenda looked up to him and locked eyes. Booth slowly lowered his hand until he grasped what he had been reaching down for. He slowly walked up to her as he recited the words he knew so well.

"Brenda Prescott, you're under arrest for the murders of James and Paulina Brennan."

And as Booth read her her rights, Tempe leaned against the wall separating the kitchen and the dinning room and watched as Brenda, her second mother, got up and as Booth, the only family she felt she had left, handcuffed her nanny.

She followed them as Booth walked her to the door. Just before she stepped out, Brenda turned around.

"Tempe, you have to understand. I was your mother. Paulina was just your biological mother. I'm your real mother, I'm the one who raised you. I did this for you, for you and Russ. I wanted us to be a family again. You didn't belong with them, you belonged with me."

Booth forced her to turn around and led her to the SUV. Several neighbors looked out their windows, some came out on their porch. Booth ignored them. He opened the door of his truck, helped Brenda in and slammed it shut.

He walked back inside the house to find Temperance sitting in the stairs, weeping. He simply stood in the doorway. He didn't know what to do.

As if sensing his presence, Brennan looked up at him.

"Bring her to the headquarters. I'll call a cab."

"Are you sure?" Booth asked, concerned.

He didn't want to leave her here all alone.

"Yes. There is just something I have to do."

She saw that Booth looked frightened. She forced herself to smile.

"And it doesn't involve killing myself, if it can make you feel any better."

Booth nodded and went back to his car. Brennan watched him leave by the window. Once he had turned the corner, she turned away. She slowly walked up the stairs, down the corridor and opened the door to her old room. She collapsed on what had been her bed, on what had been the spot where her parents had died and cried all the tears from her body.

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TBC... because yes, it is not over yet! There is more to come! Stay tuned!


	14. Chapter 14 Bad News and Decisions

The phone rang and rang but after nine or ten rings, she decided to hang up. Her brother was obviously not going to answer his phone and the kids didn't seem to be home either. She'd call back later. It was only 4:00 pm. Maybe Russ was still at work and his kids hadn't come home from school yet.

Her brother had left Washington the same day she had given him her final answer but she hadn't heard from him ever since. It had been almost a week and she was beginning to wonder when he would call her to arrange the travel for his kids. There was only one week of school left and Temperance wanted to know when her nephews and nieces would be coming.

She debated what she wanted to do that night. She hadn't seen Booth since Brenda's arrest, four days ago. She had wanted some time alone and he had given it to her. She thought she had sensed disappointment in his tone when he had spoken to her but she knew that he had understood.

She had taken four days off from work and it had felt unbelievably great to be doing nothing all day. She had talked to Dr. Goodman about the possibility of taking the first two weeks of July off so she could get fully acquainted with her new roomies. He had been quite understanding and had told her to take as much time as she needed. There were two other anthropologists, they could fill in for her if she ever wanted to leave.

She heard the footsteps way before she saw him but she still knew who it was. There was something in the way he walked that made a particular sound that she now recognized perfectly. She wondered how he would be. He must have been worried about her, she just didn't know how much.

He knocked lightly on the door and Tempe slowly turned around. A smile spread on her face and she had to fight the urge to just jump in his arms.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"I'm fine."

He gave her his I-don't-believe-you look.

"Really, Booth, I'm fine."

She got up and walked up to him. They were standing close and Tempe felt her legs turn to Jell-o. What was it about him that made her feel that way?

"I just wanted to thank you for everything you did for me these past few weeks. Thank you for not giving up on your investigation even though you thought you had hit a dead-end."

"The solution came to me in a dream, Bones. I didn't do anything. It was my sub-conscience." Booth replied.

Temperance laughed.

"You know I don't believe in psychology."

This time, it was Booth's turn to laugh.

"Also thank you for giving me my space after Brenda's arrest. I just needed some time to cope with everything that had happened. I always thought about Brenda as a second mother to me and the fact that she had actually killed my parents was just too much for me to bare. But I'm doing much better now and it's thanks to you."

Booth smiled at her.

"I came by to tell you that Brenda confessed to having slipped some kind of household poison in the water. Her lawyer is going to plead mental instability and it's obvious that she is unstable. She'll probably be sentenced to life in a psychiatric hospital to, you know, get the help she needs."

"Thanks, Booth."

They stared at each other for a while. Neither of them said anything else or moved closer. Brennan felt her heart beating faster as she looked into her friend's eyes. Then the thought occurred to her. Was he more than just a friend? She thought back to the events of the previous weeks. He had helped her find out what had happened to her parents, he had never given up. For the past two weeks he had slept over at her house, in her bed, with her. He had taken her out, brought her flowers and had held her in his arms more than once.

She knew what she felt about him but was it possible he felt the same way? Bones felt arms wrapping around her waist and she brought her own arms around his neck. Her heart raced even faster as Booth leaned closer and closer.

The sound of her phone brought them back to reality. Temperance practically jumped out of his embrace and answered her phone, her face flushed.

"Brennan." She said.

Booth ran his hand through his hair then walked to the desk and sat on a corner. Temperance wasn't looking at him. He watched as her facial expression changed. It went from serious to surprised, then from surprised to simply blank. Her face had turned pale and her eyes were round. He could see tears forming in her eyes and protectively, he got up and went to wrap his arms around her waist. Something was definitely wrong.

Brennan hung up and stared at the phone, completely shocked. She couldn't think. Millions of thoughts ran through her mind at that particular moment. She was trying to assimilate everything the other person had told her on the phone but it just didn't want to sink in. She felt a weird feeling in heart. She didn't know what it was.

She felt Booth pull her closer to him and that's when she realized that he had wrap his arms around her. She looked up at him.

"I have to go to California." She whispered.

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Berkeley, California.

Booth and Brennan walked in the police station around lunchtime. They had grabbed the 8:00 am flight for San Francisco where an FBI vehicle was waiting for them. Booth had then rented a car and the two of them had left for Berkley around 11:00 am, Pacific Time. The traffic was bad and it took a little over an hour for Booth to find his way around Berkeley and find the police station.

The cops watched them as they walked by on their way to Inspector Connolly's office, hand-in-hand, fingers intertwined. Brennan had a feeling she knew what was coming and she felt nervous. Booth had tried to calm her down during the flight but nothing had worked.

Inspector Connolly was waiting for them in front of his office. They noticed the door was closed. Connolly explained them the situation, gave them a few warnings then led them in the office.

Four brown heads turned around as they heard the door open. They all turned to look at Booth, whom they had met before. Inspector Connolly introduced them to their aunt and then told Brennan and Booth to sit down. Temperance's eyes immediately went to the garbage bags lined up against a wall. She felt a lump forming in her throat.

"There isn't much else to tell you except what I told you over the phone yesterday. Your brother's body was found in his house about a week ago. We tried to reach you but we were unable to do it."

"I was unavailable for a couple of days. I'm sorry." Temperance replied.

"The kids were put in foster care immediately after we found the body and were to remain there until we were able to reach you."

Inspector Connolly took an envelope out of the binder lying on his desk and handed it to Brennan. She could see that it was addressed to her.

"Your brother explains himself in the letter. He also asks that you take the kids and that you bring them to Washington with you. If you were to decline, the children would go back into fostering."

Brennan slowly opened the envelope and read the was apologizing to her. He told her that he had planned this months ago. He had come to Washington with a story about having to work two jobs for the summer, hoping that she would accept to take in his kids. He said that he was very happy that she had agreed to take them, that he was sorry he had lied to her and that he could now die knowing that his kids were in good hands and not in those of the foster system. The pressure of having four kids to take care of, the fact that the only woman he had ever loved had killed herself and all the memories from his past had been too much for him. He told her that he knew she would understand and that she would do what was best for the kids. He told her he knew that she was capable of raising four kids and that if she ever needed help, she could always turn to her sexy FBI agent for help, who was more than just a friend by the way.

Brennan looked up to Booth and laughed through the tears that were once again trailing down her face. Booth put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. The kids watched in silence as their newly found aunt read the letter.

Once she was finished she turned to the inspector and asked him if she could talk to Booth alone for a while. Connolly nodded and told the kids to follow him out in the hall. He closed the door to give the couple a bit of privacy.

She turned to Booth and sighed. She looked desperately at him.

"What should I do?" she asked him.

"What do you mean, what should you do? I thought you had already made your decision."

"I did but I thought it was going to be just for the summer."

"Are you this heartless?" Booth asked, letting go of her.

Brennan was surprised by his tone. She had expected sympathy or kind words, definitely not this harsh response.

"I am not heartless, Booth. I just don't think I can take care of four children."

Booth got up.

"Come here for a second."

He grabbed her hand and helped her up. He guided her to the garbage bags and pointed out to them.

"Look at these garbage bags, Tempe. Remember how it felt to carry them around. Remember how it felt to never feel at home, to be bounced from place and place. Tempe, do this for the kids. It's not that hard and I'll be there if you need help."

"But my apartment is way too small. How will I be able to find a place that'll fit the five of us?"

"You can move in with me for the time being. We'll buy a new house eventually."

"What?"

Brennan turned to her friend. He couldn't possibly be serious. They weren't even an official couple yet. Yes they had slept in the same bed and had lived together at her place for almost two weeks but that didn't make them a couple, did it? She looked into his eyes and saw he was being sincere. He really wanted her to move in with him.

This is crazy. She told herself.

"Come on, Bones. Do it for the kids. Do it for Shawn and David Cook. Do it for Leslie Lawson. Do it for all the kids in the system."

They had met little Leslie in a murder investigation six months ago. Leslie Lawson, 11, foster child since her birth, had never known what a real family was. She had been separated from her twin sister at birth, she had no family whatsoever. She had been the victim of her tenth foster family. Her foster dad had beaten her to death. Temperance remembered having to reconstruct part of her skull because it had been so damaged. She remembered seeing a picture of this lovely child. She still remembered her eyes. Even in pictures, they had seemed to be crying out for love and affection.

She heard Booth's voice from a distance.

"You remember what it was like. That's something you never forget. Now the question is, are you willing to put your own family members through this knowing full well that you could have done something to stop it?"

Temperance stayed silent for a few moments and took one more look at the garbage bags at her feet.

"Bring Inspector Connolly back in." She told Booth.

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TBC of course I won't let it like that. So what do you guys think will happen? Oh and by the way, how many of you thought that Brenda was the killer? I'm just curious to know. Did I disappoint anybody with the solution? Hopefully not.


	15. Chapter 15 All's Well That Ends Well

Well this is it, the final chapter. I want to thank each and everyone of you who read the story and reviewed it, and even the people who did read it but just didn't review. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. This is actually my first published fanfic and it was an amazing experience (I've been writing since I was 9 years old but this is the first time a story of mine is published).

I have a tiny surprise waiting for you in Chapter 16 which is actually an alternate ending. It is less believable than this one, that's why I didn't make it the official ending. See you in Chapter 16!

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"There. That's the last box." Booth said as he dropped the pretty heavy box on the ground beside the others.

He looked up at the people standing in front of him. They all looked so disoriented, so lost. Even Parker, who was visiting Booth for the week-end, standing among the Brennan kids and Temperance herself, looked lost. He had been pretty surprised when Booth had come to pick him up to find the SUV packed with strangers, Nathan on the front seat and the twins in the back with him. But Booth wasn't worried about his son. He already got along really well with Elena.

The past three weeks had been rather difficult for all of them. Booth and Temperance had stayed in Berkeley for two weeks so the kids would be able to finish school before moving and it had also given them time to put the house for sale and to pack the children's stuff. During that time, Temperance had also planned her parents' and her brother's funerals. She had decided to bury them in Westminster.

She was also doing really well with the kids but Booth couldn't say that he was surprised. Deep down he knew that she would make a good mother and that she did in fact have that maternal instinct she said she didn't have. She seemed to love her nephews and nieces more and more and they seemed to share that feeling. At first, things had been awkward but Booth had expected it. She had found it really weird to be cooking for six and hadn't known what to do when Nathan had come home from school and needed to be grounded. She had never grounded a kid in her life and she had turned to Booth for help. He had gladly helped her.

But the thing he would remember the most about this period of adjustment was the night his girlfriend had tucked Elena in. The little girl had asked her aunt to tuck her in and to read her a story and Brennan had found it really weird as she put the child to sleep. Booth had been on his way to the bathroom when he walked by little Elena's room. He had seen Temperance sitting on the bed beside her niece, her arm wrapped around the shoulders of the child, Elena cuddling to her aunt and Temperance's low voice had been reading her a story. Booth had leaned against the doorway for a couple of minutes, simply admiring the doctor.

As the weeks passed she was slowly getting the hang of it. She had taken the whole month of July off for some much needed and well earned vacation and she had plans on spending it with the kids. Then in August, when she would go back to work, the kids would be sent to a day camp.

They had left California a week ago. Booth had taken most of the kids' stuff over at his house while Brennan packed her own apartment. She still didn't know where she was going to put all of her stuff. Booth's place was definitely bigger than her apartment but there was no way there would be enough space to store everything. They had decided to keep some her stuff at her apartment until they were ready to move to a bigger house.

The funeral had gone pretty well. Temperance had felt somewhat happy that all of her friends had come for support and surprised to see that some of her parents' friends and former co-workers had bothered to come down to the cemetery for the funeral. Now her parents and her brother laid forever in peace in the Westminster's cemetery.

This had been three days ago and now, here they were, all standing in Booth's house which now looked rather small with seven people living in it.

"Alright you kids! Who wants to go swimming?" Booth asked in a motivating tone.

Booth smiled as they saw their face light up. They all shouted "Me me me" at the same time and Booth's smile grew even wider.

"The last one in the pool is a loser!" Corey shouted.

The four kids ran to their bags and rummaged through them for their bathing suits. Booth took Parker to his now crowded with sleeping bags room and helped him change in his. He could hear the kids yelling in the living room and wondered if they had bothered to use the bathroom to strip down and climb into their bathing suits.

As soon as he had had his bathing suit and his life jacket on, Parker ran back to the living room, letting his dad know he didn't want to be the loser. Booth slowly followed his son, a huge smile on his face.

Seconds later he heard them splashing in the water. Booth locked eyes with Temperance and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Come on, let's go check on them."

They went through the kitchen and out on the deck. The sun was bright and it was really hot outside.

Brennan stood and looked at the kids who were already splashing around in the pool. She couldn't believe how happy they looked and wondered how they could act so happily knowing their parents had died and that they were miles away from where they had grown up. The more she looked at them, the more she felt herself loving them. Maybe she could do this after all.

Booth stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. As he watched the kids play in the pool he knew that this was the life he was meant to live. The woman wrapped in his embrace, the kids in the pool, they would become his family. He would legally adopt them, all of them. Maybe, some day, when Brennan would realize that bringing a child into the world wasn't such a bad thing after all, they could have children of their own.

"I don't get how they can be so happy." He heard her say. "Their father just died."

"Ya well, you know children. They surprise us when we least except it."

Temperance chuckled and looked up at her partner.

"Thank you for letting us stay with you."

"Well it's a bit crowded but it's only temporary. I saw a couple of houses on sale on our way back from the funeral. They looked big enough to fit the seven of us."

"Seven?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah. I called Rebecca while we were in California. I told her about what had happened to you, I told her that you were moving in with me, along with the four kids."

"What did she say?"

"She said she was surprised. We got to talking. It felt weird. We didn't argue, we simply talked. Then, out of nowhere, she told me she was sorry. She told me that she had been wrong to keep me away from my son. She said that she had been heartless and selfish from the beginning. Then she told me that if I wanted we could change the custody system. We wouldn't tell the court, it would be just between us. She agreed that I could have him every week-end until you and I were settled down for good."

"Booth, that's great!"

She had spoken very loudly but the kids hadn't turned around. They were too busy having fun.

"What about Parker? Do you think he'll be able to fit in?"

"Oh I'm sure Parker will be fine. Look at him. He's having fun and he's already crazy about you. He even asked me if you were my girlfriend."

"What did you tell him?"

She turned around in his arms and locked eyes.

"I told him yes."

Temperance smiled and turned back around.

"I'm glad you told me. Here I was, a couple of minutes ago, thinking that I was a single aunt."

"You'll never be alone anymore, baby, because I'm not going anywhere."

Brennan felt his kiss the side of her head. She sighed happily.

The kids were busy playing and none of them paid any attention to the new couple. Parker and Elena, at the shallow end of the pool, with their life jackets, swam around in circle, their faces in the water and made a contest of who could stay underwater the longest. Neither of them spent more than three seconds under it. Nathan and Corey, in the middle, seemed to be playing cops and rubbers or a game similar to that. Just like a lifeguard, Bridget sat on the edge of the pool, her feet soaking in the water, looking out for her brothers and her sister like she had done all of her life, ready to jump in the pool at the first sign of trouble. The sun shined on her hair and the little breeze made them sway.

Everything was going to be just fine.


	16. Chapter 16 All's Well That Ends Well 2

Alternate ending, or as I like to call it All's Well That Ends Well 2. lol I felt like this one was less realistic but I just HAD to write it. You'll see why later in the chapter. By the way, for those who read Chapter 15, no need to re-read the beginning of this one. It is the exact same thing. The new part is around the middle (like that helps you, huh!).

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"There. That's the last box." Booth said as he dropped the pretty heavy box on the ground beside the others.

He looked up at the people standing in front of him. They all looked so disoriented, so lost. Even Parker, who was visiting Booth for the week-end, standing among the Brennan kids and Temperance herself, looked lost. He had been pretty surprised when Booth had come to pick him up to find the SUV packed with strangers, Nathan on the front seat and the twins in the back with him. But Booth wasn't worried about his son. He already got along really well with Elena.

The past three weeks had been rather difficult for all of them. Booth and Temperance had stayed in Berkeley for two weeks so the kids would be able to finish school before moving and it had also given them time to put the house for sale and to pack the children's stuff. During that time, Temperance had also planned her parents' and her brother's funerals. She had decided to bury them in Westminster.

She was also doing really well with the kids but Booth couldn't say that he was surprised. Deep down he knew that she would make a good mother and that she did in fact have that maternal instinct she said she didn't have. She seemed to love her nephews and nieces more and more and they seemed to share that feeling. At first, things had been awkward but Booth had expected it. She had found it really weird to be cooking for six and hadn't known what to do when Nathan had come home from school and needed to be grounded. She had never grounded a kid in her life and she had turned to Booth for help. He had gladly helped her.

But the thing he would remember the most about this period of adjustment was the night his girlfriend had tucked Elena in. The little girl had asked her aunt to tuck her in and to read her a story and Brennan had found it really weird as she put the child to sleep. Booth had been on his way to the bathroom when he walked by little Elena's room. He had seen Temperance sitting on the bed beside her niece, her arm wrapped around the shoulders of the child, Elena cuddling to her aunt and Temperance's low voice had been reading her a story. Booth had leaned against the doorway for a couple of minutes, simply admiring the doctor.

As the weeks passed she was slowly getting the hang of it. She had taken the whole month of July off for some much needed and well earned vacation and she had plans on spending it with the kids. Then in August, when she would go back to work, the kids would be sent to a day camp.

They had left California a week ago. Booth had taken most of the kids' stuff over at his house while Brennan packed her own apartment. She still didn't know where she was going to put all of her stuff. Booth's place was definitely bigger than her apartment but there was no way there would be enough space to store everything. They had decided to keep some her stuff at her apartment until they were ready to move to a bigger house.

The funeral had gone pretty well. Temperance had felt somewhat happy that all of her friends had come for support and surprised to see that some of her parents' friends and former co-workers had bothered to come down to the cemetery for the funeral. Now her parents and her brother laid forever in peace in the Westminster's cemetery.

This had been three days ago and now, here they were, all standing in Booth's house which now looked rather small with seven people living in it.

"Alright you kids! Who wants to go swimming?" Booth asked in a motivating tone.

Booth smiled as they saw their face light up. They all shouted "Me me me" at the same time and Booth's smile grew even wider.

"The last one in the pool is a loser!" Corey shouted.

The four kids ran to their bags and rummaged through them for their bathing suits. Booth took Parker to his now crowded with sleeping bags room and helped him change in his. He could hear the kids yelling in the living room and wondered if they had bothered to use the bathroom to strip down and climb into their bathing suits.

As soon as he had had his bathing suit and his life jacket on, Parker ran back to the living room, letting his dad know he didn't want to be the loser. Booth slowly followed his son, a huge smile on his face.

Seconds later he heard them splashing in the water. Booth locked eyes with Temperance and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Come on, let's go check on them."

They went through the kitchen and out on the deck. The sun was bright and it was really hot outside.

Brennan stood and looked at the kids who were already splashing around in the pool. She couldn't believe how happy they looked and wondered how they could act so happily knowing their parents had died and that they were miles away from where they had grown up. The more she looked at them, the more she felt herself loving them. Maybe she could do this after all.

Booth went to stand beside her and, as he watched the kids play in the pool he knew that this was the life he was meant to live. The woman standing beside him, the kids in the pool, they would become his family. He would legally adopt them, all of them. Suddenly a funny feeling spread through him. He grabbed Temperance by the waist and pulled her in front of him. His arms holding her tightly around him, he whispered in her ear.

"I want one."

Temperance's heart skipped a beat. Had she heard properly?

"What?" she said, surprised.

She turned around in his embrace to face him. She saw that he looked serious.

"I want one."

"What? A kid?"

"Yeah."

"But you already have one."

"I know but not with you."

She didn't know what to say. Here she was, in Booth's arms, kids screaming in the background, on a deck, at his house and he was telling her he wanted a child with her, what could she say? You could say yes, a voice said in her mind. Temperance shushed it. Booth knew that she didn't want to have any kids. He also once told her that she would change her mind but she didn't think she would. She had her brother's kids, wasn't that enough?

"What do you say?" he said, suddenly very nervous.

"But... we're not even a couple."

That was all she had managed to come up with.

"Oh come on, Bones. We've been a couple since day one, we just never made it official. We even moved in together."

"But we're not even married."

"Marry me, then."

"What?"

This time, her heart was racing so fast, she thought she was going to have a heart attack. Marry Booth? Was he serious? Did she even want to marry him? If she married him, then he would want children and he deserved to have a big family, just like he wants. But she couldn't give him that. Could she? What if she tried? Would that be a mistake?

Booth saw that several questions were racing through her mind. He felt his throat go dry. The last time he had proposed to someone, the person had said no. He wasn't ready to have that happen once again.

"Come on, Bones, marry me." He whispered as he put his forehead against hers.

He was being pathetic. He was practically begging her to marry him.

Temperance closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She'd take the leap even though it scared her.

"Yes." She whispered back.

She opened her eyes and saw that he was staring back at her. She felt his lips on hers and their kiss lasted a few seconds. He pulled away and rested his forehead once again against hers.

She saw him smile then felt his forehead slowly leave hers. She turned around to face the pool once again, felt him kiss the side of her head and his embrace around her tighten. She looked at the kids splashing around. She could get used to this. She still wasn't sure about all this whole baby stuff but she knew now that if it ever happened, she'd be ready. She'd know what to do.

The kids were busy playing and none of them paid any attention to the new couple. Parker and Elena, at the shallow end of the pool, with their life jackets, swam around in circle, their faces in the water and made a contest of who could stay underwater the longest. Neither of them spent more three seconds. Nathan and Corey, in the middle, seemed to be playing cops and rubbers or a game similar to that. Just like a lifeguard, Bridget sat on the edge of the pool, her feet soaking in the water, looking out for her brothers and her sister like she had done all of her life, ready to jump in the pool at the first sign of trouble. The sun shined on her hair and the little breeze made them sway in the air.

Everything was going to be just fine.

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Well the story is officially done now. I let you pick the ending you want for the story and hope you all enjoyed it.


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